Fragile by Design

Brilliant... [I]f you are looking for a rich history of banking over the last couple of centuries and the role played by politics in that evolution, there is no better study. It deserves to become a classic. --Liaquat Ahamed, New York Times Book Review Business economists Calomiris and Haber explain how imperfectly politics and commercial banks intersect, and the consequences for the rest of us... This learned inquiry deserves ample attention from scholars, regulators, and bankers themselves. --Publishers Weekly Calomiris and Haber offer a thoughtful counter-argument to the current received wisdom. --Howard Davies, Times Higher Education Readable, erudite, myth-busting... The authors' clear and well-documented discussion of what happened should dissuade anyone of the myth that the economic crisis of 2007-09 was caused by the profit-and-loss system of unfettered capitalism. --Gene Epstein, Barron's Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber make the compelling argument that a country's propensity for frequent banking crises is linked to the ability of populist elements to hold the banking sector to ransom. --Louise Bennetts, American Banker This is a great history of political interference in bank regulation ... --James Ferguson, Money Week One reason why economists did not see the financial crisis coming is that the models most macro and financial economists deal in are free of politics. Fragile by Design offers a much-needed supplement. --Martin Sandbu, Financial Times Will a next crisis be averted? Perhaps, if our regulators read this book. --Vicky Pryce, The Independent Fragile by Design ... is a great book... [E]normously illuminating, and contains the most powerful and concise account of the causes of the 2008 crisis that I have seen. --Eric Posner, EricPosner.com