Since the first edition of this book, the world's financial system went through its greatest crisis for a century. What made this crisis unique is that severe financial problems emerged simultaneously in many different countries and that its economic impact was felt throughout the world as a...

What are the grand dynamics that drive the history of economies? The laws of supply & demand, most economists would argue. For the history of European banking, this book offers an alternative explanation: Rather than market forces, the coincidence and coalitions of charismatic ideas and powerful...