The Return of Depression Economics

Description

Our newest Nobel Prize-winning economist shows how today's crisis parallels the events that caused the Great Depression and explains what it will take to avoid catastrophe. In his 1999 book, Nobel Prize-winning economist Krugman surveyed the economic crises that had swept across Asia and Latin America, and pointed out that they were a warning: like antibiotic-resistant diseases, the economic maladies that caused the Great Depression were making a comeback. In the years that followed, as Wall Street boomed and wheeler-dealers made vast profits, the crises of the 1990s faded from memory. But when the great housing bubble of the mid-2000s burst, the U.S. financial system proved as vulnerable as those of developing countries. In this greatly updated edition, Krugman shows how the failure of regulation to keep pace with an out-of-control financial system set the United States, and the world, up for the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. He also lays out the steps that must be taken to contain the crisis, and turn around a world economy sliding into a deep recession.--From publisher description.

First Sentence

HONG Kong's elite may have been sleeping off the festivities of the previous night; but there was no break for the construction crews working frantically on Hong Kong's grandiose new convention center, trying to finish it in time to accommodate the annual joint meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Description

Surely the Great Depression could not happen again; our economists and policy makers simply have too many tools in their kit and too much experience applying them. Or could it? Paul Krugman gives us a sobering tour of the global economic crises of the last two years. In the 1930s policy makers realized that they had to limit the free market in order to save it. Today, when governments worldwide have spent decades lifting regulatory restraints on trade within and across their borders, interference in markets is completely out of favor as a policy tool. With his usual creativity and willingness to consider new ideas, Krugman suggests that a variety of capital restraints may well be in order. This book is for anyone with any level of economic background who wishes to understand the stunning events in today's global economy.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The Return of Depression EconomicsW. W. Norton & Company1999-05-01
• The return of depression economicsAllen Lane1999-01-01
• Pourquoi les crises reviennent toujoursPaperbackSeuil2000-04-01
• The Return of Depression EconomicsW. W. Norton & Company2000-05-15
• The Return of Depression EconomicsW. W. Norton & Company2000-05-15
• The Return of Depression EconomicsPenguin Books Ltd2000-06-04