Understanding Global Crises

Assaf Razin provides here the definitive introduction and overview of the historical and analytical literatures on financial crises. Students new to the subject and specialists alike will appreciate the crystal clear exposition. Razin's book is the obvious starting point for all those concerned to understand risks to financial stability. And, given recent events, 'all those concerned' is likely to connote a very large number.

Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

The global financial crisis shook the foundations of macroeconomic theory: what had we missed? In this book, Professor Razin opens an illuminating door on the post-crisis world and painstakingly builds the foundations of a post-crisis paradigm. A must-read for anybody who wants to go beyond the stylized facts and begin to understand the why and how of global financial crises.

Carlos A. Vegh, Fred H. Sanderson Professor of International Economics, Johns Hopkins University

Assaf Razin has performed a real tour de force: blending historical study with rigorous theoretical analysis; presenting a vast and penetrating overview of the literature on financial crises; developing a new macroeconomic paradigm in which financial intermediaries play a major role, and in which asset and debt accumulation matters. All in one book. Thanks to Assaf Razin's book, doing macroeconomics is interesting again.

Paul De Grauwe, John Paulson Chair in European Political Economy, London School of Economics and Political Science

Understanding Global Crises is an impressive book. The thoughtful and accessible analysis of the financial crises in the last 25 years in the first chapters will be extremely useful for the layperson interested in crises. The elegant modeling of the financial frictions predating these crises in the last chapters will also attract the expert. A must-read!

Graciela L. Kaminsky, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, George Washington University