With the bankruptcy of Investment Bank giant Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merril Lynch to Bank of America, the potential failure of Insurance giant, American International Group -- AIG, and the 504 point drop of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Monday, September 15, 2008 will long be remembered. Is it equal to the Great Crash of 1929?
How to find perspective on the current economic crisis? Are there sources of information that might help us understand what we are going through?
Over the past few years several books have appeared that attempt to put the current economic situation in context. The following list is by no means inclusive and is limited to what is currently on library shelves. Let's begin with some books on the Great Depression:
The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith is a recognized classic on reasons behind the crash of 1929. Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel represents in depth memories of many people who went through the Depression and recounts their stories. Terkel talks to people from all strata of the period. An important book. T.H. Watkins has chronicled the Great Depression in 2 books -- The Great Depression -- America in the 1930s and The Hungry Years: A Narrative History of the Great Depression in America. Like Terkel Watkins draws on oral histories and memoirs, but also historical documents. Other books about the Depression include Rainbow's End: The Crash of 1929 by Maury Klein and The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes. Shlaes sees the small businessman as the Forgotten Man and believes that New Deal interventionist programs prolonged the depression instead of relieving its impact.
For the current situation there are several books including: When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change by Mohammed A. El-Erian providing an action plan for investors, risk managers, and policy makers; 2 books by Robert J. Shiller -- The New Financial Order: Risk in the 21st Century and Irrational Exuberance; New York Times economics columnist, Paul Krugman's The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World; Eric S. Weiner's What Goes Up: The Uncensored History of Modern Wall Street as told by the bankers, brokers, CEOs and the Scoundrels Who Made It Happen; Benoit B. Mandelbrot and Richard L. Hudson's The (Mis) behavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin and Reward and Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists: Unleashing the Power of Financial Markets to Create Wealth and Spread Opportunity by Raghuram G. Ragen and Luigi Zingales. Finally, former Clinton Labor Secretary, Robert Reich's Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life provides a thought-provoking perspective on the current economic context. ( For reviews of these books, click on the links and select "more information" under "more resources". )
Where to find more information? Websites that continuously follow business news and put things in perspective include: for daily headlines gathered together from multiple sources Google News is hard to beat, especially Google Business News. Starting with Google Business News you can sample up to the minute headlines, videos, and stories. Another good source of up to the minute business news from multiple providers is Yahoo Finance. There you will be able to access multiple business magazines and newspapers sites. CnnMoney is another website that consistently provides indepth coverage as well as video reports and up-to-the minute coverage. They have been especially good in exploring the current economic crisis and are consistently exploring cause as well as effect. You will visit it often. Also see the Business section of the New York Times for detailed coverage. Bloomberg, Business Week, Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch, and Forbes are worth consulting on a regular basis. For an international perspective see Financial Times and The Economist. Fortune and Money Magazines are each to be accessed through CnnMoney.
In consulting the above sites and books you will be able to contrast and sift information in this rapid and confusing environment. Most of the books can be found at the Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield's Public Library
How to find perspective on the current economic crisis? Are there sources of information that might help us understand what we are going through?
Over the past few years several books have appeared that attempt to put the current economic situation in context. The following list is by no means inclusive and is limited to what is currently on library shelves. Let's begin with some books on the Great Depression:
The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith is a recognized classic on reasons behind the crash of 1929. Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel represents in depth memories of many people who went through the Depression and recounts their stories. Terkel talks to people from all strata of the period. An important book. T.H. Watkins has chronicled the Great Depression in 2 books -- The Great Depression -- America in the 1930s and The Hungry Years: A Narrative History of the Great Depression in America. Like Terkel Watkins draws on oral histories and memoirs, but also historical documents. Other books about the Depression include Rainbow's End: The Crash of 1929 by Maury Klein and The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes. Shlaes sees the small businessman as the Forgotten Man and believes that New Deal interventionist programs prolonged the depression instead of relieving its impact.
For the current situation there are several books including: When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change by Mohammed A. El-Erian providing an action plan for investors, risk managers, and policy makers; 2 books by Robert J. Shiller -- The New Financial Order: Risk in the 21st Century and Irrational Exuberance; New York Times economics columnist, Paul Krugman's The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World; Eric S. Weiner's What Goes Up: The Uncensored History of Modern Wall Street as told by the bankers, brokers, CEOs and the Scoundrels Who Made It Happen; Benoit B. Mandelbrot and Richard L. Hudson's The (Mis) behavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin and Reward and Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists: Unleashing the Power of Financial Markets to Create Wealth and Spread Opportunity by Raghuram G. Ragen and Luigi Zingales. Finally, former Clinton Labor Secretary, Robert Reich's Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life provides a thought-provoking perspective on the current economic context. ( For reviews of these books, click on the links and select "more information" under "more resources". )
Where to find more information? Websites that continuously follow business news and put things in perspective include: for daily headlines gathered together from multiple sources Google News is hard to beat, especially Google Business News. Starting with Google Business News you can sample up to the minute headlines, videos, and stories. Another good source of up to the minute business news from multiple providers is Yahoo Finance. There you will be able to access multiple business magazines and newspapers sites. CnnMoney is another website that consistently provides indepth coverage as well as video reports and up-to-the minute coverage. They have been especially good in exploring the current economic crisis and are consistently exploring cause as well as effect. You will visit it often. Also see the Business section of the New York Times for detailed coverage. Bloomberg, Business Week, Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch, and Forbes are worth consulting on a regular basis. For an international perspective see Financial Times and The Economist. Fortune and Money Magazines are each to be accessed through CnnMoney.
In consulting the above sites and books you will be able to contrast and sift information in this rapid and confusing environment. Most of the books can be found at the Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield's Public Library
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