The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

Cover......Page 1
Title page......Page 9
Copyright page......Page 10
Contents......Page 11
Introduction  [3]......Page 15
About This Book......Page 18
1  "The Central Problem Has Been Solved"  [9]......Page 21
Capitalism Triumphant......Page 22
The Taming of the Business Cycle......Page 27
Technology as Savior......Page 34
The Fruits of Globalization......Page 36
Skeptics and Critics......Page 40
2  Warning Ignored: Latin America's Crises  [30]......Page 42
Mexico: Up from the 1980s......Page 44
Argentina's Break with the Past......Page 50
Mexico's Bad Year......Page 54
The Tequila Crisis......Page 58
The Great Rescue......Page 62
Learning the Wrong Lessons......Page 64
3  Japan's Trap  [56]......Page 68
Japan as Number One......Page 69
Bubble, Toil and Trouble......Page 73
A Stealthy Depression......Page 78
Japan's Trap......Page 79
Japan Adrift......Page 83
Japan's Recovery......Page 88
4  Asia's Crash  [77]......Page 89
The Boom......Page 90
July 2, 1997......Page 96
Meltdown......Page 100
Contagion......Page 103
Why Asia? Why 1997?......Page 106
Epilogue: Argentina, 2002......Page 109
The Deeper Question......Page 112
5  Policy Perversity  [101]......Page 113
How the International Monetary System Didn't Evolve......Page 115
The Speculative Threat......Page 121
The Confidence Game......Page 123
Did the IMF Make the Situation Worse?......Page 127
6  Masters Of The Universe  [119]......Page 131
The Nature of the Beast......Page 132
The Legend of George Soros......Page 134
The Madness of Prime Minister Mahathir......Page 137
The Attack on Hong Kong......Page 139
The Potemkin Economy......Page 144
The Panic of 1998......Page 146
7  Greenspan's Bubbles  [139]......Page 151
The Age of Greenspan......Page 152
America's Designated Driver......Page 154
Greenspan's Bubbles......Page 156
When Bubbles Burst......Page 163
The History of Banking, Simplified......Page 165
The Shadow Banking System......Page 170
Malign Neglect......Page 174
9  The Sum Of All Fears  [165]......Page 177
The Housing Bust and Its Fallout......Page 178
The Non-Bank Banking Crisis......Page 182
The Fed Loses Traction......Page 184
The Mother of All Currency Crises......Page 188
A Global Slump......Page 191
10  The Return Of Depression Economics  [181]......Page 193
What Is Depression Economics?......Page 194
What to Do: Dealing with the Emergency......Page 196
Financial Reform......Page 201
The Power of Ideas......Page 202
About the Author......Page 205