Ben Waber reviewed This Time is Different by Carmen M. Reinhart
A Rigorous Look at the Nature of Modern Financial Collapses
5 stars
While this book was written too soon after the 2007 financial crisis to appropriately dig into its causes and effects, it is a great research-backed examination of the nature of modern financial market collapses. The focus here is at the country level, which obviously has limitations given the small number of countries and their radically different nature - that the authors ignore colonialism's impact on default is particularly egregious - but the authors should be credited for casting a wide analytical net and looking for similarities across developing and developed countries. This book is a bit technical but should provide enough background for folks without macroeconomic background, and that rigor pays off in deeper understanding of the various mechanisms at play. Highly recommend
While this book was written too soon after the 2007 financial crisis to appropriately dig into its causes and effects, it is a great research-backed examination of the nature of modern financial market collapses. The focus here is at the country level, which obviously has limitations given the small number of countries and their radically different nature - that the authors ignore colonialism's impact on default is particularly egregious - but the authors should be credited for casting a wide analytical net and looking for similarities across developing and developed countries. This book is a bit technical but should provide enough background for folks without macroeconomic background, and that rigor pays off in deeper understanding of the various mechanisms at play. Highly recommend