Description |
xix, 346 pages ; 19 cm |
Contents |
The depression and its proximate causes -- The crisis in banking -- The underlying causes -- Why a depression was not anticipated -- The government responds -- A silver lining? -- What we are learning about capitalism and government -- The economics profession asleep at the switch -- Apportioning blame -- The way forward -- The future of conservatism |
Summary |
"The financial and economic crisis that began in 2008 is the most alarming of our lifetime. How could it have happened, after all we've learned from the Great Depression? Why wasn't it anticipated? What can be done to reverse a slide into a full-blown depression? Why have the responses to date of the government and the economics profession been so indecisive? Richard Posner presents a concise and non-technical examination of this financial disaster and the stumbling efforts to cope with it. Among the facts and causes Posner identifies are heavy capital flows from abroad and the reckless lowering of interest rates by the Federal Reserve Board; the deregulation of the financial sector; the relation between executive compensation, short-term profit goals, and risky lending; the housing bubble fueled by low interest rates and aggressive mortgage marketing; the low savings rate of the American people; and the highly leveraged balance sheets of large financial institutions. Posner analyzes the two basic remedial approaches to the crisis, which correspond to the two theories of the cause of the Great Depression: the monetarist - that the Federal Reserve Board allowed the money supply to shrink, thus failing to prevent a disastrous deflation - and the Keynesian - that the depression was the product of a credit binge in the 1920s, a stock-market crash, and the ensuing downward spiral in economic activity. Posner concludes that the pendulum swung too far and that our financial markets need to be more heavily regulated."--Book jacket |
Analysis |
Capitalism |
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Credit |
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Economic depression |
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Financial crises |
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Financial institution failures |
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Overseas item |
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US Federal Reserve |
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United States |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 333-336) and index |
Subject |
Capitalism.
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Depressions.
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Economic history -- 21st century.
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Financial crises -- United States.
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SUBJECT |
United States -- Economic conditions -- 2001-2009.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2001004604
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United States -- Economic policy -- 2001-2009.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2001008758
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LC no. |
2009004723 |
ISBN |
9780674035140 (alk. paper) |
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