This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly - Softcover

Reinhart, Carmen M.; Rogoff, Kenneth S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691152640 ISBN 13: 9780691152646

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2011

Synopsis

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling history of financial crises

Throughout history, rich and poor countries alike have been lending, borrowing, crashing, and recovering their way through an extraordinary range of financial crises. Each time, the experts have chimed, “this time is different”—claiming that the old rules of valuation no longer apply and that the new situation bears little similarity to past disasters. With this breakthrough study, leading economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff definitively prove them wrong.

Covering sixty-six countries across five continents and eight centuries, This Time Is Different presents a comprehensive look at the varieties of financial crises—including government defaults, banking panics, and inflationary spikes—from medieval currency debasements to the subprime mortgage catastrophe. Reinhart and Rogoff provocatively argue that financial combustions are universal rites of passage for emerging and established market nations.

A remarkable history of financial folly, This Time Is Different will influence financial and economic thinking and policy for decades to come.

About this title

About the Author

Carmen M. Reinhart is the Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System at the Harvard Kennedy School and former vice president and chief economist at the World Bank. Kenneth S. Rogoff is the Maurits C. Boas Chair of International Economics at Harvard University. He is the author of The Curse of Cash (Princeton) and a frequent commentator for NPR, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times.

From the Back Cover

"This Time Is Different is a tremendously exciting, topical, and controversial book on the history of debt and default. This one belongs on everyone's shelf."--Barry Eichengreen, author of The European Economy since 1945

"This is quite simply the best empirical investigation of financial crises ever published. Covering hundreds of years and bringing together a dizzying array of data, Reinhart and Rogoff have made a truly heroic contribution to financial history. This single marvelous volume is worth a thousand mathematical models."--Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World

"This Time is Different is terrific, for it gives just the perspective we need on the current world economic crisis. People can't expect to understand the current crisis without some in-depth look at past crises. That is exactly what this excellent and timely book provides."--Robert J. Shiller, author of Irrational Exuberance and coauthor of Animal Spirits

"You will be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive and insightful analysis of financial crises. Reinhart and Rogoff's superb book is a must-read for anyone looking to understand past and present crises, as well as navigate those of tomorrow."--Mohamed El-Erian, author of When Markets Collide

"I would say that her [Carmen Reinhart's] book with Ken Rogoff on debt crises and financial crises is an extraordinary piece of work."--Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, speaking before the House Budget Committee (6/9/2010)

"The most important authorities probably in the world now on financial crashes are Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart. . . . And I read it [This Time is Different]."--Former President Bill Clinton, speech at Youngstown, OH, October 31, 2012

"A classic."--Nouriel Roubini

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691152640
• ISBN 13: 9780691152646
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512