Preventing The Next Financial Crisis

The collapse of Lehman Brothers, the oldest and fourth-largest US investment bank, in September 2008 precipitated the global financial crisis. This deepened the contraction in economic activity that had already started in December 2007 and has become known as the Great Recession. Following a sluggish and uneven period of recovery, levels of private debt have recently been on the rise again making another financial crisis almost inevitable. This book answers the key question: can anything be done to prevent a new financial crisis or minimize its impact? The book opens with an analysis of the main elements responsible for the 2007/2009 financial crisis and assesses the extent to which they are still present in today ́s financial system. The responses to the financial crises - particularly the Dodd-Frank Act, the establishment of the Financial Stability Board, and attempts to regulate shadow banking – are evaluated for their effectiveness. It is found that there is a high risk of a new bubble developing, there remains a lack of transparency in the financial industry, and risk-taking continues to be incentivised among bankers and investors. Proposals are put forward to ameliorate the risks, arguing for the need for an international lender of last resort, recalling Keynes’ idea for an International Clearing Union. This book will be of significant interest to scholars and students of financial crises, financial stability, and alternative approaches to finance and economics.

The financial crisis that began in 2007 brought much of the global economy to its knees and nearly triggered another Great Depression. The financial storm gradually died down in 2009, at least in the United States, but even six years after that, much of the world had yet to fully recover from the enormous economic damage caused by the crisis.This essay describes what happened and outlines a new approach to financial regulation (macroprudential policy) that aims to prevent such crises from happening again.

This book answers the question: can anything be done to prevent a new financial crisis or minimize its impact? It analyses the main elements responsible for the 2007/2009 financial crisis and assesses the extent to which they are still present today, and finds that there is a high risk of a new bubble developing.

Current debates about economic crises typically focus on the role that public debt and debt-fueled public spending play in economic growth. This illuminating and provocative work shows that it is the rapid expansion of private rather than public debt that constrains growth and sparks economic calamities like the financial crisis of 2008. Relying on the findings of a team of economists, credit expert Richard Vague argues that the Great Depression of the 1930s, the economic collapse of the past decade, and many other sharp downturns around the world were all preceded by a spike in privately held debt. Vague presents an algorithm for predicting crises and argues that China may soon face disaster. Since American debt levels have not declined significantly since 2008, Vague believes that economic growth in the United States will suffer unless banks embrace a policy of debt restructuring. All informed citizens, but especially those interested in economic policy and history, will want to contend with Vague's distressing arguments and evidence.

In easy to understand terms and journalistic style, Read describes the reasons for global financial unrest arising from the sub-prime mortgage crisis and economic meltdowns. He walks the reader through a number of topics in economics and connects these topics to real world financial problems concluding with recommendations for the future.

Can we prevent another financial crisis? We can! Break Up the Banks! is a sensible, actionable, and totally accessible call to arms from an acclaimed financial journalist It’s been eight years since the financial crisis, but has anyone taken real action to prevent the next one? Former Economist reporter David Shirreff thinks not, and in Break Up the Banks!, he gives us a short but essential guide to what exactly we can do. With great clarity and a keen sense of humor, Shirreff argues that banks have gotten far too big and far too powerful—and shows how they can be reined in.

This book provides a uniquely comprehensive explanation of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and resulting scholarly research in the context of building an agenda for reform. With the clarity provided by almost a decade of hindsight and a careful eye toward planning for prevention, Elson guides readers through both historical fact and scholarly interpretation, highlighting areas where careful critique of and changes in the international financial architecture and the mainstream macroeconomic paradigm can promote greater financial stability in the future. Given the great public concern over growing income and wealth inequality, the book examines their links to the increased financialization of the economy, both prior to and since the crisis. Finally, the book identifies a number of lessons that need to be recognized if adequate and effective reforms are to be introduced to avoid a financial crisis of similar magnitude in the future. Comprehensive enough for university students and sufficiently innovative for financial policymakers, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers interested in understanding not just where the crisis has brought us, but what key economists have said about it and how we can strengthen our financial system oversight to deal with the continuing challenges of globalization.

Former Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson -- who was at the very epicenter of the crashing financial markets -- provides a startling, first- person account of what really happened during this time of global financial crisis - and this revised edition features fresh and original material from Paulson on the five-year-anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis. From the man who was in the very middle of this perfect economic storm, Paulson puts the reader in the room for all the intense moments as he addressed urgent market conditions, weighed critical decisions, and debated policy and economic considerations with of all the notable players-including the CEOs of top Wall Street firms as well as Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Sheila Bair, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, and then-President George W. Bush. More than an account about numbers and credit risks gone bad, On the Brink is an extraordinary story about people and politics-all brought together during the world's impending financial Armageddon.