The Economic Crisis in Retrospect

As the United States continues its slow recovery from the global financial crisis of 2008, politicians, policymakers and academics are increasingly turning to the lessons of history to gain insight into how we might address both current and future economic challenges. This volume offers contributions by eminent economists and historians, each commenting on the theories of a particular 20th century economist and the ways in which those theories apply to modern economic thought.

Presented in rough chronological order of the lives of the featured economists, these chapters tackle a number of major economic issues, including the role of central banks, monetary and fiscal policy, government spending, entrepreneurship and financial innovation. The contributors apply the theories of Walter Bagehot, Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter and Friedrich Hayek to these and other crucial topics, offering both comprehensive historical analysis and vital insights into the modern US and world economies. Two additional chapters on the Great Depression and US monetary and fiscal history round out this critical collection.

Students and professors of all economic disciplines will find much to admire in this fascinating volume, as will anyone with an interest in economics both past and present.

Contributors: B. Bateman, B. Caldwell, R.N. Langlois, P. Mehrling, R. Prasch, T.J. Sargent, P. Temin, G.P. West III, R.M. Whaples