1. 'Destruction ... and misery' : the First World War -- 2. The Great Depression, 1929-33 -- 3. The Second World War as an economic disaster -- 4. The rise, fall and rise again of OPEC -- 5. Inflation in the twentieth century -- 6. Financial crises -- 7. Stock market crashes -- 8. The demise of...

Recurrent instability has characterized the global financial system since the 1980s, eventually leading to the current global financial crisis. This instability and the resultant disruptions - sovereign debt defaults, exchange rate misalignments, financial market illiquidity and asset price...