The Great Crashes: Lessons from Global Meltdowns and How to Prevent Them

Description

A fascinating one-stop account of recent financial crashes, what lessons we can learn from them and where the next one will come from Since America's Wall Street Crash of 1929, the global economy has weathered the most tumultuous century in financial history. From the currency crises of the 1980s, to Japan's housing meltdown, the dot com boom and bust, the global financial crash and the COVID pandemic, crash after crash have sent shockwaves through our world. The Great Crashes tells the stories of ten of these historic financial events. They serve as a series of cautionary tales, each with their own set of lessons to be learnt. With clear-eyed analysis, renowned-economist Professor Linda Yueh uses these meltdowns to extract a critical three step framework to help recognise the early signs of a crash, mitigate the effects and even prevent them in the future. There is very little that is certain in economics, except for this- there will be another financial crisis. Yueh exclusively predicts the next and shows how her framework could contain it. Combining her in-depth knowledge with her compelling storytelling, The Great Crashes is essential reading that offers urgent lessons for the modern world.

Linda Yueh is Fellow in Economics at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford and Adjunct Professor of Economics at London Business School. She is also Visiting Professor at LSE IDEAS and was Visiting Professor of Economics at Peking University. The former Economics Editor at Bloomberg TV, she also hosted Talking Business with Linda Yueh as Chief Business Correspondent for BBC News. She writes for The Times, The New York Times, and the Financial Times and has advised the World Economic Forum in Davos, the World Bank, the European Commission and the Asian Development Bank. She has recently been appointed by HM Treasury to the Independent Review Panel on Ring-fencing and Proprietary Trading, to examine banking crises and advise the government on mitigating the next one. She is the author of The Great Economists, a Times Best Business Book of 2018.

Linda Yueh's analysis of what past financial crises have in common is an important contribution that can help society anticipate and tackle potential crashes in the future -- Christine Lagarde * President of the European Central Bank * A first point of entry for anybody who wants to learn how the world economy sleep-walked into multiple crashes over the last century -- Daron Acemoglu * Institute Professor, MIT, and author of Why Nations Fail * Fascinating, well-written and authoritative * Tim Harford * An accessible and insightful overview of modern financial crises, incorporating both historical detail and thoughtful analysis -- Kenneth Rogoff Linda provides many with a very readable summary of all the great crises, but also more importantly derives the big lessons and how to have a better policy framework to avoid getting caught up in too much " this time it is different" when the next big risks appear -- Jim O'Neill * Author of The Growth Map * A masterclass in spotting the early signs of a crisis. Linda Yueh expertly shows how we can understand these crashes better when they occur and even prevent them from happening in the future. A accessible yet rich study of our most turbulent economic years -- Nouriel Roubini * author of Megathreats * This well-written book draws out the many different ways in which markets can crash and she's willing to chance her arm predicting the next one -- Vince Cable * author of How to be a Politician * A timely and instructive book on the big financial and economic crashes. It comes in the midst of a global polycrisis that threatens the economic and social well being of all especially the World's poorest citizens. Linda Yueh makes a heroic effort to tease out lessons fundamental to managing future crises. The question is: Will we learn? -- Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala * WTO Director-General and former Finance Minister of Nigeria * Troubled times call for a historical perspective and this is the historical perspective we need -- John Kay * author of Radical Uncertainty * Demonstrates how that old saying - "this time is different" - is both so true and so wrong! -- Lord Green Crashes are an integral part of the history of capitalism. The last century has seen plenty of them. All crashes begin with debt-fuelled euphoria and end in disappointment. Yet how bad that disappointment turns out to be also depends on where in the economy the crash falls and how determined and credible are the responses. In this lively and blessedly brief book, Linda Yueh does a lovely job of explaining the history and drawing the necessary lessons -- Martin Wolf * Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times * This excellent overview identifies the ingredients that are specific to each crisis and common to all. She provides a lucid assessment of the efficacy of policy responses, high-lighting credibility as a necessary condition for successful resolution -- Nick McPherson * former Permanent Secretary of the Treasury * "Why did nobody notice?" Was the question the Queen asked about the 2008 financial crisis. It was a good question. All financial crises and crashes have their own characteristics but they also often involve certain common features:- Irrational exuberance, Speculative frenzy, Greed and over confidence usually supported by high levels of gearing. Linda Yueh's new book will be a timely reminder to governments and regulators of the warning signs of future crises -- Norman Lamont * former Chancellor of the Exchequer * Timely, entertaining and full of useful insights -- Gideon Rachman * Chief foreign affairs commentator, Financial Times *