He was right in predicting the crash, but he's wrong about the cause for it and how to fix it .... ( )

Mihm, Stephen (Author)

Cri­sis Eco­nom­ics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm is a non-fiction finan­cial book.

I thought Cri­sis Eco­nom­ics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm was a very inter­est­ing book, offer­ing solu­tions to a sta­bi­lize the finan­cial sys­tem. Even though the book might no longer be as rel­e­vant as it was when it was writ­ten, it is still fascinating.

The book gives a good overview of cap­i­tal­ism from the point of view of the cri­sis that hap­pens every once in a while, before and after reforms. The authors give a clear look about the cri­sis of 2008 and what got us into it, as well as what long-term improve­ments should be done.

The authors go on to give some good, solid advice which is likely never to be imple­mented. Much of the pro­pos­als are polit­i­cally poi­so­nous (let­ting the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010), or will not gain sup­port in gov­ern­ment and espe­cially with the finan­cial industry.

The book ends with a gloomy look into the future – some of it seems to be com­ing true these days (China start­ing to fall, Europe is on finan­cial brink). A very inter­est­ing book for those who want to an overview of the finan­cial cri­sis with­out going into too much detail or more com­plex reading.

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A little disappointing- the book isn't all that well organized, the 'solutions' offered are focused almost entirely on stabilizing the financial system, and it's frightening to see how quickly a book like this can be outdated.

Now obviously the problem of being outdated can't be laid at the authors' feet; and there's nothing particularly wrong with wanting to stabilize the financial system. I just come from a different world: when you promise 'radical' measures, I don't expect things like "do a better job regulating derivatives, and break up the too big to fail banks." I'm not sure what I expected, but certainly something more highly charged than that. This isn't at all a guide to crisis economics. It's a guide to regulating the financial sector after one particular crisis.

As for organization, I suspect they just tried to do too much- a history of the crash, complete with explanation of every term; a list of proposed and pursued solutions; a list of their preferred solutions. The prose is skimmable, an perfectly clear, but also made me sleepy.

All that said, it's probably a good one stop shop for those who are curious but can't be bothered reading more than one book. ( )

The subtitle is lame, but the book is excellent. Good overview of the history of crisis in capitalism, something that was incredibly frequent prior to the reforms instituted during the Great Depression. Then a clear look at what got us into this particular crisis - and what didn't - followed by an analysis of options for long-term improvements to the financial system. Definitely recommended. ( )