Crises and Opportunities: The Shaping of Modern Finance - Softcover

Cassis, Youssef

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199672431 ISBN 13: 9780199672431

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2013

Synopsis

As the world's political and economic leaders struggle with the aftermath of the Financial Debacle of 2008, this book asks the question: have financial crises presented opportunities to rebuild the financial system?

Examining eight global financial crises since the late nineteenth century, this new historical study offers insights into how the financial landscape - banks, governance, regulation, international cooperation, and balance of power - has been (or failed to be) reshaped after a systemic shock. It includes careful consideration of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the only experience of comparable moment to the recession of the early twenty-first century, yet also marked in its differences.

Taking into account not only the economic and business aspects of financial crises, but also their political and socio-cultural dimensions, the book highlights both their idiosyncrasies and common features, and assesses their impact in the broader context of long-term historical development.

About this title

About the Author

Youssef Cassis is Professor of Economic History at the University of Geneva and Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His work mainly focuses on banking and financial history, as well as business history more generally. His numerous publications on the subject include City Bankers, 1890-1914 (1994), Big Business: The European Experience in the Twentieth Century (1997), and Capitals of Capital: A History of International Financial Centres, 1780-2005 (2006).

Review

"Youssef Cassis attempts to describe and explain the nature of modern bank crises: what creates them, why they happen and how they are resolved. This is a challenging subject for any study, and Cassis effortlessly carries it off ... The book greatly aids our understanding of financial crises."
--Joel Campbell, International Affairs 30/04/2012

"This is a book on the financial crisis that is both timely and judicious. His sure historical grasp gives Youssef Cassis a unique insight into the links between financial crises and major shifts in regulatory and governance structures."

--Harold James, Professor of History and International Affairs and Director of the Program in Contemporary European Studies, Princeton University

"If the financial crisis has a silver lining, it is that it has heightened appreciation of the importance of financial history. In this book Youssef Cassis, our preeminent historian of banking and finance, illustrates why this is the case. Newcomers will find an accessible introduction to
the history of financial crises, while specialists will find much that is new and novel. Recommended to both."

--Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science University of California, Berkeley 20/01/2011

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0199672431
• ISBN 13: 9780199672431
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 218