Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises, Sixth Edition
"Robert Aliber has produced superb update of the classic book by Charles Kindleberger which remains as relevant as ever." —Martin Wolf,Financial Times "Underneath the hilarious anecdotes, the elegant epigrams, and the graceful turns of phrase, Kindleberger is deadly serious. The manner in which humans beings earn their livings is no laughing matter to him, especially when they attempt to do so at the expense of one another. As he so effectively demonstrates, manias, panics, and crashes are the consequence of an economic environment that cultivates cupidity, chicanery, and rapaciousness rather than a devout belief in the Golden Rule." —Peter L. Bernstein "Professor Kindleberger has the welcome gifts of carrying lightly an immense weight of learning and of always using his imagination in deciding how to deploy it. These gifts are as evident as ever in his latest book." —W. Ashworth,Economic History Review "Manias, Panics and Crashesis a scholarly account for the way that mismanagement of money and credit has led to financial explosions over the centuries." —Richard Lambert,Financial Times"Charles Kindleberger has written, with great polish and style, an analysis of the stages of financial crises over the last two and a half centuries." —Patrick Minford,Economic Journal"Alas, both the need for a book such asManias, Panics and Crises,and the scale and coverage of its material, keep on increasing, almost exponentially. So much has happened in the last few years that this is now Bob Aliber’s book, as much as, perhaps more, than Charles Kindleberger’s. Aliber has maintained, indeed, enhanced, the prior high standards that Kindleberger set. The analysis, (giving pride of place to Minsky and to the role of credit expansion in driving asset price bubbles), and the judgement (that allowing Lehman Bros to fail was a disaster and that harping on the cliché of ‘too big to fail’ obscures proper assessment) are both first class. This is an entertaining and easily accessible book, filled with fascinating historical vignettes, and one that everyone from the experts to newcomers to the field should read and would profit greatly by doing so." —Charles Goodhart, London School of Economics