1. Some Introductory Remarks about Banks, Financial Structures, Crises and Their Cost -- Part I: The Interwar Period. -- 2 Financial Depth in Three Economies: The UK, the US, Italy -- 3. The Great Depression and Britain -- 4. The United States: Boom and Depression -- 5. Italy: Finance in a Fascist State -- Part II: Financial Stability and Evolution in the PostwarDecades (A "Golden Age"?) -- 6. Financial Deepening in the Three Economies -- 7. The United Kingdom: Not So Stable -- 8. The United States: Big Government and Big Bank -- 9. Italy's Recovery -- Part III: The Recent Period -- 10. The Broad Framework -- 11. Financial Structure of the Three Economies: Never So Deep -- 12. Growth and Collapse of the Shadow Banking System in the United States -- 13. A Severe Test for London as World Financial Centre -- 14. Italy: financially more stable, but structural problems persist -- 15. Conclusion
Summary
A survey of past financial crises, starting with the great banking collapses of the interwar period. The current turmoil has prompted a number of questions regarding both its origins and ways to avoid its repetition. The historical background and the evolving institutional framework of banking and financial systems are at the center of this book
