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This Time Is Different

Eight Centuries of Financial Folly

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This Time Is Different

By: Carmen Reinhart, Kenneth Rogoff
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
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About this listen

 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 66 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.Download the accompanying reference guide.©2009 Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff (P)2009 Gildan Media Corp Economic History Economics Taxation Capitalism Banking Government Thought-Provoking US Economy Export Global Financial Crisis Great Recession Economic disparity Deflation Latin America Economic Inequality Africa

Critic Reviews

" 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)
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Solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. Some reviewers have complained that it's hard to digest the book without the tables which are available separately. For the lay reader you can totally do without them. Slightly technical text at times but generally very accessible economic theory and analysis.

Key resource to understand economic bubbles

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good book but heavily reliant on charts and tables makes it dry and hard to finish as an audio book. buy the real one unless you're planning to listen to it white staring at the pdfs anyway

too many charts for an audio book

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The goal seems to be categorising various economies and countries into various self styled tables. Which, quite frankly is neither inspiring nor significant enough to deliver insights. It’s tabulations not concepts connections. It’s OK, but wouldn’t be at the top of any lists I recommend.

Had potential

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good outline what comes with financial crises. Hard to follow when referring to graphs on audiobook.

a good brief of the financial crises globally.

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very well thought out and argued discussion. the authors have used fact to clearly outline the risks associated with debt and default.

well written

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