This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly

Throughout history, rich and poor countries alike have been lending, borrowing, crashing--and recovering--their way through an extraordinary range of financial crises. Each time, the experts have chimed, this time is different--claiming that the old rules of valuation no longer apply and that the new situation bears little similarity to past disasters. This book proves that premise wrong. Covering sixty-six countries across five continents, This Time Is Different presents a comprehensive look at the varieties of financial crises, and guides us through eight astonishing centuries of government defaults, banking panics, and inflationary spikes--from medieval currency debasements to today's subprime catastrophe. Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, leading economists whose work has been influential in the policy debate concerning the current financial crisis, provocatively argue that financial combustions are universal rites of passage for emerging and established market nations. The authors draw important lessons from history to show us how much--or how little--we have learned. Using clear, sharp analysis and comprehensive data, Reinhart and Rogoff document that financial fallouts occur in clusters and strike with surprisingly consistent frequency, duration, and ferocity. They examine the patterns of currency crashes, high and hyperinflation, and government defaults on international and domestic debts--as well as the cycles in housing and equity prices, capital flows, unemployment, and government revenues around these crises. While countries do weather their financial storms, Reinhart and Rogoff prove that short memories make it all too easy for crises to recur. This Time Is Different exposes centuries of financial missteps.

About the Author :
Carmen M. Reinhart is professor of economics and director of the Center for International Economics at the University of Maryland. She received her PhD from Columbia University. She is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her papers have been published in leading scholarly journals, including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.Her work is frequently featured in numerous publications, including the Economist, Financial Times, Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. She has also appeared on CNN, CSPAN, BBC, and NPR, among others. Kenneth Rogoff is Charles and Marie Robertson Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University. Lloyd James has been narrating since 1996, has recorded over six hundred books in almost every genre, has earned six AudioFile Earphones Awards, and is a two-time nominee for the prestigious Audie Award. His bestselling and most critically acclaimed performances include Elvis in the Morning by William F. Buckley, Jr., Ben Hur by Lew Wallace, Searching for Bobby Fischer by Fred Waitskin, and Mystic Warrior by Tracy and Laura Hickman. Lloyd's background as a performer includes extensive work in classical theater and folk music. He lives in Maryland with his wife and children.

Review :
"[T]he most comprehensive study of financial crises and their aftermath." -- "New York Times" "Essential reading...both for its originality and for the sobering patterns of financial behavior it reveals." -- "Economist (London)" "Everyone working on economic policy should own This Time is Different and open it for a bracing blast of sobriety when things seem to be going well." -- "Washington Post" "Financial folly, economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff show in this groundbreaking book, knows no boundaries and has no expiration date...For a book built around numbers, This Time is Different makes for surprisingly good reading. The authors are well aware that human nature is at the heart of the disasters they document, and they enliven the text with brief and amusing accounts of charlatans and cheats." -- "USA Today" "Here's a deep and rewarding assignment for all of you, young and old, poor and rich, bullish and bearish. Retire to a quiet spot with a copy of This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff." -- "Forbes" "Reinhart and Rogoff have compiled an impressive database...This Time Is Different doesn't simply explain what went wrong in our most recent crisis. This book also provides a roadmap of how things are likely to pan out in the years to come...This Time Is Different is an important addition to the literature of financial history." -- "Wall Street Journal" "Superb." -- "Globe & Mail (Toronto)" "This is the kind of economics we desperately need, as it is relevant, fact-based and replete with wisdom from the past--and lessons for the future." -- "Irish Times" "Two top-notch economists provide a clear and interesting explanation of why economic crises keep occurring. Broadly speaking, downturns such as the one we are recovering from are historically associated with characteristics that should sound quite familiar to today's investors." -- "Financial Times"