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Lost Decades: The Making of America's Debt Crisis and the Long Recovery
Welcome to Argentina: by 2008 the United States had become the biggest international borrower in world history, with almost half of its 6.4 trillion dollar federal debt in foreign hands. The proportion of foreign loans to the size of the economy put the United States in league with Mexico, Pakistan, and other third-world debtor nations. The massive inflow of foreign funds...more
Hardcover, 284 pages
Published
April 1st 2011
by W. W. Norton & Company
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I agree with the cover blurbs saying this book may be the best single explanation of our recent financial crisis. The authors do a great job explaining the complex financial products that led to the interrelatedness of the global fiscal implosion. The authors believe government intervention was necessary to stem the global contagion and also call out the lack of effective government regulation which essentials allows the financial system to privative profits and socialize losses. Less blame is p...more
Another book on the American financial crisis, this one is unusual in that the authors place less emphasis on the role of derivatives in causing the crisis. Ireland went through a similar real estate bubble at the same time, without the benefits of credit default swaps and such exotica. Basically, the authors see what the United States went through mostly as a typical bubble fueled by debt, as has happened in many nations before. Inconsistently, the authors then go on to describe how the derivat...more
When I was looking for a book on the economic meltdown, a buddy of mine said his PhD advisor had written a book, how about that? I wrote it down and promptly forgot about it (and read ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism instead).
This one is a macroeconomic take on How Things Went Wrong - a perspective I haven't seen much covered, and one that certainly added to my understanding of the subject.
I guess my biggest takeaways are that:
1. The major e...more
This one is a macroeconomic take on How Things Went Wrong - a perspective I haven't seen much covered, and one that certainly added to my understanding of the subject.
I guess my biggest takeaways are that:
1. The major e...more
Need a terrifying read for the holidays? Get this book. It explains in simple language the many reasons for the financial crisis (Fannie Mae, Fed, lacking regulation, lacking ethics) and paints a picture of the future. At best, we are in the middle of a lost decade. More likely, we're facing 3-4 lost decades. Happy holidays...:)
"Mohamed El-Erian was worried enough that the entire financial system was breaking down that he called his wife and told her to go to the ATM and take out plenty of cash. 'She said, "Why?" I said, "I don't know whether the banks are going to be open tomorrow." The system was freezing in front of our eyes.'" (113)
I thought this was a really clear overall explanation for the events of the recent recession and their global impacts. I didn't agree with every argument made, but I still appreciated the ways the authors simplified a very complex subject.
Essential reading for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of The Great Recession than the cheap analysis offered by cable TV networks.
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Menzie D. Chinn teaches at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and runs the influential blog Econbrowser.
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