| This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly |  | Authors: Carmen M. Reinhart, Kenneth Rogoff
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Category: Book
List Price: £19.95
Buy New: £11.16
as of 9/9/2010 21:03 CST details
You Save: £8.79 (44%)
New (43) Used (10) from £10.60
Seller: the_book_depository
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,676
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 496
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.7
ISBN: 0691142165
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.542
EAN: 9780691142166
Publication Date: September 11, 2009
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | New | | • | Mint Condition | | • | Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon | | • | Guaranteed packaging | | • | No quibbles returns |
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
 This Book is Disappointing September 9, 2010
Avid Reader (London)
"This Time is different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly" by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff is an exhaustive econometric analysis of eight centuries of financial crisis. It reads as an extended economic paper where terms and methodologies are defined at length and data treated with rigor. The value of the book is the extensive set of data, an unprecedented study that compiled statistics over 66 countries accounting for 90% of world GDP over nearly 8 centuries, with an emphasis on the past 2 centuries, for which they have the most data.
The tone is sober and cautious and unfortunately stays very descriptive. I felt that the book lacked deep insights in the cause and development of crisis. The book insists on the common traits of crisis and its predicanta but stays sober regarding the remedies. I was hoping to find clues about the current economic trajectory _ is the current economic deceleration a sign of a double-dip coming or a normal slow-down in a recovery ? _ but unfortunately, the book did not address this question at length.
However, this is what I enjoyed and learnt.
- The part called "The this-time-is different syndrome" in Chapter I is interesting and entertaining. In six pages, the authors go over five important crisis of the XXth Century and oppose the reason why people discard the risk of a bubble and the unfortunate reality.
- The book stresses the difficulty for a serial defaulter to cure itself. Indeed, the market confidence is key and crisis can happen at benign level of debt/gdp ratio.
- There are some very interesting reflections on the lack of legal framework. Country risk and corporate risk is quite different as a country can decide to default whatever its financial conditions and creditors might have very limited recourse. The bargaining power of each parties are very key at that stage.
- Defaults come in cluster. We have had waves of defaults in 1940s, 1980-1990 and a very mild 2000 period.
 Possibly the most boring book I have ever read ? May 5, 2010
W. R. Brook (Warwick, UK)
17 out of 26 found this review helpful
OK, so I have read more boring books than this, but it's definitely up there amongst the contenders. I thought this might give me some insights into the history of banking collapses and sovereign debt default, have some interesting anecdotes and be generally educational, but I have to say, this is *just* for financial geeks. It takes 50 pages just to lay out the methodology and define terms ! Ouch. Maybe a great read for a macroeconomic Nobel laureate or something looking for a research topic, but otherwise, forget it. If you want to find out what sovereign debt default looks like, you are better watching riots in Athens on the TV...
 Review for This Time is Different April 21, 2010
DKNY Watch Fanclub (Scotland)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book provides an excellent collection of empirical observations on crises, banking as well as debt crises. For first time researchers in this field, it gives a comprehensive review of relevant literature and snapshot of empirics. For more experienced researchers, it is a good companion book.
 Empirical analysis of previous debt crises through 8 centuries. April 13, 2010
Morten Pedersen (Guildford, UK)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
It's a fairly dry read, though not overly technical. With the exception of the Great Depression, it doesn't drill too far into any particular prior crisis, but then if it had, it would have been 30,000 pages instead of 300.
Three types of crises are identified - external debt, domestic debt, and banking crises. Of the three, banking crises are identified to be the worst.
Common denominators leading up to banking crises include liberalization of laws, high capital mobility, and large capital inflow. We had all of those leading up to the current crisis. It furthermore points out that the effects of banking crises include a sharp reduction in tax intake, bailouts, stimulus, and large deficits - we've also had all of those.
Two things in particular that should make everyone take notice of this work - the authors find that typically, countries do NOT grow out of their debts, and since the wide-scale introduction of fiat currencies, inflation has been the weapon of choice in this fight. Since the average banking crisis lead to a debt increase of 86% - which is not out of line with what we can expect at the end of the current - and since we live in a society dominated by fiat currencies, should we expect inflation?
However, all throughout the book, I just couldn't help myself thinking that this time really IS different. With the exception of the Great Depression, not once has a crisis hit with anywhere near the kind of global impact we currently experience. And since most of the issues still persist - deficits are worse than ever, banks are still in deep trouble, and tax revenue continues to drop - I can't come to any other conclusion that this crisis will be felt for a long time to come.
Definitely worth a read.
A must-have reference book April 6, 2010
J. N. Turner (Lampeter, Wales)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The authors have written a monster of a refence book which spans 800 years of financial history. It's somewhat galling to see Brown/Darling on TV declaring "this time is different", and "we're in uncharted waters, we've not been here before", only to read just how many times we HAVE been here before. Wasn't it Einstein who said that the definition of stupidity is making the same mistake again and again?
I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It's not a light bedtime read but is accessible and more than readable, and more's the point, you can dip in to whatever chapter is relevant for your enquiry. There are swathes of tables and reference charts, and the later chapters deal with the current crisis - which we learn is not new (though the debt mountain is the greatest on record).
I would suggest it helps to have a modicum of understanding of world finance, this is not a book for beginners (for that go to "Conspiracy of the Rich" by Robert Kiyosaki - possibly the best there is to really get inside what's going on in the world of finance and highly readable), but for those already engaged in this area, "This Time is Different" is essential.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.à.r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
| |
