Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises
by Charles Kindleberger
This is the classic account of the life cycle of financial crises, how they happen, but more importantly, how they build, spread and take on lives of their own. Kindleberger’s book carries the message that, while policies may change and economic circumstances may vary, human psychology and oscillation between fear and greed will always be with us.
Recommendations from our site
“Kindleberger’s message is that complacency can be a self-denying prophecy.” Read more...
The best books on Globalization
Larry Summers, Economist
“Kindleberger’s great virtue is that he was both a respected economist and a student of human nature, and he knew that human nature could never be bottled up in an economic model. His book is a terrific narrative of a series of bubbles, going back to pre-industrial days – the Dutch tulip craze, the South Sea bubble, and so forth..” Read more...
The best books on Financial Crashes
Charles Morris, Entrepreneurs & Business People
“He describes very well how these manias occur and what the symptoms are of manias in terms of excessive speculation, overleverage, borrowing, fraud, embezzlement, high trading volumes, and so forth.” Read more...
Marc Faber, Fund Managers & Investor
Our most recommended books
-
This Time Is Different
by Carmen Reinhart & Kenneth Rogoff -
A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960
by Anna Schwartz & Milton Friedman -
Essays on the Great Depression
by Ben Bernanke -
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
by Michael Lewis -
Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance and Liquidity (Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 91, No. 3, June 1983)
by Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig -
13 Bankers
by James Kwak & Simon Johnson