"We focus on two international aspects of the Great Depression-financial crises and international trade- and try to discern lessons for the current economic crisis. Both downturns featured global banking crises which were generated by boom-slump macroeconomic cycles. During both crises, world...

In this paper we trace the evolution of the lender of last resort doctrine - and its implementation - from the nineteenth century through the panic of 2008. We find that typically the most influential economists "fight the last war" formulating policy guidelines that would have dealt effectively...

Foreword -- Robert M. Solow -- Introduction -- Financial crises: a hardy perennial -- The anatomy of a typical crisis -- Speculative manias -- Fueling the flames : the expansion of credit -- The critical stage : when the bubble is about to pop -- Euphoria and paper wealth -- Bernie madoff :...