Anatomy of a Financial Crisis

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 0230106188
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (31 download)

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Book Synopsis Anatomy of a Financial Crisis by : M. Jarsulic

Download or read book Anatomy of a Financial Crisis written by M. Jarsulic and published by Springer. This book was released on 2010-03-29 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An indepth look at the origins and development of the current financial crisis, from an economist and Washington insider. Jarsulic explains how a wide array of financial institutions, including mortgage banks, commercial banks, and investment banks created a credit bubble that supported nonprime mortgage lending and helped to inflate house prices.

The Banks Did It

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674249356
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (742 download)

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Book Synopsis The Banks Did It by : Neil Fligstein

Download or read book The Banks Did It written by Neil Fligstein and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of the rise and fall of the mortgage-securitization industry, which explains the complex roots of the 2008 financial crisis. More than a decade after the 2008 financial crisis plunged the world economy into recession, we still lack an adequate explanation for why it happened. Existing accounts identify a number of culpritsÑfinancial instruments, traders, regulators, capital flowsÑyet fail to grasp how the various puzzle pieces came together. The key, Neil Fligstein argues, is the convergence of major US banks on an identical business model: extracting money from the securitization of mortgages. But how, and why, did this convergence come about? The Banks Did It carefully takes the reader through the development of a banking industry dependent on mortgage securitization. Fligstein documents how banks, with help from the government, created the market for mortgage securities. The largest banksÑCountrywide Financial, Bear Stearns, Citibank, and Washington MutualÑsoon came to participate in every aspect of this market. Each firm originated mortgages, issued mortgage-backed securities, sold those securities, and, in many cases, acted as their own best customers by purchasing the same securities. Entirely reliant on the throughput of mortgages, these firms were unable to alter course even when it became clear that the market had turned on them in the mid-2000s. With the structural features of the banking industry in view, the rest of the story falls into place. Fligstein explains how the crisis was produced, where it spread, why regulators missed the warning signs, and how banksÕ dependence on mortgage securitization resulted in predatory lending and securities fraud. An illuminating account of the transformation of the American financial system, The Banks Did It offers important lessons for anyone with a stake in avoiding the next crisis.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report

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Author :
Publisher : Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1616405414
Total Pages : 692 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (164 download)

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Book Synopsis The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report by : Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission

Download or read book The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report written by Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and published by Cosimo, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse

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Author :
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437984673
Total Pages : 646 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (379 download)

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Book Synopsis Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse by :

Download or read book Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Anatomy of a Meltdown

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Author :
Publisher : Aspen Publishers
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Anatomy of a Meltdown by : Michael P. Malloy

Download or read book Anatomy of a Meltdown written by Michael P. Malloy and published by Aspen Publishers. This book was released on 2010 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anatomy of a Meltdown: A Dual Financial Biography of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, traces the course of two financial icons, Lehman Brothers and WaMuâ "one operating in the investment sector, the other in the consumer financial services sectorâ "on their path to financial ruin. Illuminating the nature and severity of the subprime mortgage crisis, author Michael P. Malloy presents a clear and cogent analysis of the global economic meltdown, the steps necessary to restore the financial markets, and measures that must be taken to avoid similar crises in the future. This clear and concise text by one of the foremost authorities on bank regulation features: comprehensive coverage of all of the fundamental law, policy, and practical issues raised by the crisis and the government's response to it the core of key cases preserved in timely and salient excerpts a balanced policy perspective step-by-step, highly readable analysis of the practical and policy implications of the subprime mortgage crisis the author's cutting-edge web log that offers continuously updated supplemental material generous use of examples throughout the text effective use of visual aids to illustrate concepts and spark class discussion Anatomy of a Meltdown: A Dual Financial Biography of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, by Michael P. Malloy tells the story of the financial meltdown that swept through American and international markets, threatening to plunge the United States into depression as Wall Street and the global economy faced near-total collapse.

Global Financial Meltdown

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 0230595189
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Global Financial Meltdown by : C. Read

Download or read book Global Financial Meltdown written by C. Read and published by Springer. This book was released on 2008-11-27 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In easy to understand terms and journalistic style, Read describes the reasons for global financial unrest arising from the sub-prime mortgage crisis and economic meltdowns. He walks the reader through a number of topics in economics and connects these topics to real world financial problems concluding with recommendations for the future.

What Caused the Financial Crisis

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Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 081220493X
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (122 download)

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Book Synopsis What Caused the Financial Crisis by : Jeffrey Friedman

Download or read book What Caused the Financial Crisis written by Jeffrey Friedman and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2011-06-06 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The deflation of the subprime mortgage bubble in 2006-7 is widely agreed to have been the immediate cause of the collapse of the financial sector in 2008. Consequently, one might think that uncovering the origins of subprime lending would make the root causes of the crisis obvious. That is essentially where public debate about the causes of the crisis began—and ended—in the month following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the 502-point fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in mid-September 2008. However, the subprime housing bubble is just one piece of the puzzle. Asset bubbles inflate and burst frequently, but severe worldwide recessions are rare. What was different this time? In What Caused the Financial Crisis leading economists and scholars delve into the major causes of the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression and, together, present a comprehensive picture of the factors that led to it. One essay examines the role of government regulation in expanding home ownership through mortgage subsidies for impoverished borrowers, encouraging the subprime housing bubble. Another explores how banks were able to securitize mortgages by manipulating criteria used for bond ratings. How this led to inaccurate risk assessments that could not be covered by sufficient capital reserves mandated under the Basel accords is made clear in a third essay. Other essays identify monetary policy in the United States and Europe, corporate pay structures, credit-default swaps, banks' leverage, and financial deregulation as possible causes of the crisis. With contributions from Richard A. Posner, Vernon L. Smith, Joseph E. Stiglitz, and John B. Taylor, among others, What Caused the Financial Crisis provides a cogent, comprehensive, and credible explanation of why the crisis happened. It will be an essential resource for scholars and students of finance, economics, history, law, political science, and sociology, as well as others interested in the financial crisis and the nature of modern capitalism and regulation.

Anatomy of the Crash

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Author :
Publisher : Ludwig von Mises Institute
ISBN 13 : 1610167236
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis Anatomy of the Crash by : Tho Bishop

Download or read book Anatomy of the Crash written by Tho Bishop and published by Ludwig von Mises Institute. This book was released on 2020-05-01 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great Crash of 2020 was not caused by a virus. It was precipitated by the virus, and made worse by the crazed decision of governments around the world to shut down business and travel. But it was caused by economic fragility. The purpose of this collection is to highlight the important work of contemporary Austrian economists on the modern financial system. Although the mainstream financial press has been crediting American, European, and Chinese policymakers with upholding the global economy in the aftermath of 2008, Austrians have long been warning that these very same actions have only set the world up for a larger disaster. Promises in 2008 of the ease of normalizing monetary policy—such as by reducing balance sheets and phasing out market intervention—have been proven to be lies, just as Austrians warned. Authors Include: Ryan McMaken, Daniel Lacalle, Brendan Brown, Thorsten Polleit, Alasdair Macleod, Philipp Bagus, Ronald-Peter Stöferle, Mark J. Valek, Arkadiusz Sieroń, Ronald-Peter Stöferle, Jeff Deist, Joseph T. Salerno, and Claudio Grass.

Financial Crises Explanations, Types, and Implications

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Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 1475561008
Total Pages : 66 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (755 download)

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Book Synopsis Financial Crises Explanations, Types, and Implications by : Mr.Stijn Claessens

Download or read book Financial Crises Explanations, Types, and Implications written by Mr.Stijn Claessens and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2013-01-30 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper reviews the literature on financial crises focusing on three specific aspects. First, what are the main factors explaining financial crises? Since many theories on the sources of financial crises highlight the importance of sharp fluctuations in asset and credit markets, the paper briefly reviews theoretical and empirical studies on developments in these markets around financial crises. Second, what are the major types of financial crises? The paper focuses on the main theoretical and empirical explanations of four types of financial crises—currency crises, sudden stops, debt crises, and banking crises—and presents a survey of the literature that attempts to identify these episodes. Third, what are the real and financial sector implications of crises? The paper briefly reviews the short- and medium-run implications of crises for the real economy and financial sector. It concludes with a summary of the main lessons from the literature and future research directions.

The Handbook of the Political Economy of Financial Crises

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Author :
Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 0199757232
Total Pages : 785 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis The Handbook of the Political Economy of Financial Crises by : Martin H. Wolfson

Download or read book The Handbook of the Political Economy of Financial Crises written by Martin H. Wolfson and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2013-02-21 with total page 785 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great Financial Crisis that began in 2007-2008 reminds us with devastating force that financial instability and crises are endemic to capitalist economies. This Handbook describes the theoretical, institutional, and historical factors that can help us understand the forces that create financial crises.

Misunderstanding Financial Crises

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199986886
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

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Book Synopsis Misunderstanding Financial Crises by : Gary B. Gorton

Download or read book Misunderstanding Financial Crises written by Gary B. Gorton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-02 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before 2007, economists thought that financial crises would never happen again in the United States, that such upheavals were a thing of the past. Gary B. Gorton, a prominent expert on financial crises, argues that economists fundamentally misunderstand what they are, why they occur, and why there were none in the U.S. from 1934 to 2007. Misunderstanding Financial Crises offers a back-to-basics overview of financial crises, and shows that they are not rare, idiosyncratic events caused by a perfect storm of unconnected factors. Instead, Gorton shows how financial crises are, indeed, inherent to our financial system. Economists, Gorton writes, looked from a certain point of view and missed everything that was important: the evolution of capital markets and the banking system, the existence of new financial instruments, and the size of certain money markets like the sale and repurchase market. Comparing the so-called "Quiet Period" of 1934 to 2007, when there were no systemic crises, to the "Panic of 2007-2008," Gorton ties together key issues like bank debt and liquidity, credit booms and manias, moral hazard, and too-big-too-fail--all to illustrate the true causes of financial collapse. He argues that the successful regulation that prevented crises since 1934 did not adequately keep pace with innovation in the financial sector, due in part to the misunderstandings of economists, who assured regulators that all was well. Gorton also looks forward to offer both a better way for economists to think about markets and a description of the regulation necessary to address the future threat of financial disaster.

Financial Crises

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Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 1484355261
Total Pages : 754 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (843 download)

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Book Synopsis Financial Crises by : Mr.Stijn Claessens

Download or read book Financial Crises written by Mr.Stijn Claessens and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2014-02-19 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lingering effects of the economic crisis are still visible—this shows a clear need to improve our understanding of financial crises. This book surveys a wide range of crises, including banking, balance of payments, and sovereign debt crises. It begins with an overview of the various types of crises and introduces a comprehensive database of crises. Broad lessons on crisis prevention and management, as well as the short-term economic effects of crises, recessions, and recoveries, are discussed.

Venezuela Before Chávez

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Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271064641
Total Pages : 549 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Venezuela Before Chávez by : Ricardo Hausmann

Download or read book Venezuela Before Chávez written by Ricardo Hausmann and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-06-13 with total page 549 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the beginning of the twentieth century, Venezuela had one of the poorest economies in Latin America, but by 1970 it had become the richest country in the region and one of the twenty richest countries in the world, ahead of countries such as Greece, Israel, and Spain. Between 1978 and 2001, however, Venezuela’s economy went sharply in reverse, with non-oil GDP declining by almost 19 percent and oil GDP by an astonishing 65 percent. What accounts for this drastic turnabout? The editors of Venezuela Before Chávez, who each played a policymaking role in the country’s economy during the past two decades, have brought together a group of economists and political scientists to examine systematically the impact of a wide range of factors affecting the economy’s collapse, from the cost of labor regulation and the development of financial markets to the weakening of democratic governance and the politics of decisions about industrial policy. Aside from the editors, the contributors are Omar Bello, Adriana Bermúdez, Matías Braun, Javier Corrales, Jonathan Di John, Rafael Di Tella, Javier Donna, Samuel Freije, Dan Levy, Robert MacCulloch, Osmel Manzano, Francisco Monaldi, María Antonia Moreno, Daniel Ortega, Michael Penfold, José Pineda, Lant Pritchett, Cameron A. Shelton, and Dean Yang.

The Financial Crisis of Our Time

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780199792788
Total Pages : 424 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (927 download)

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Book Synopsis The Financial Crisis of Our Time by : Robert W. Kolb

Download or read book The Financial Crisis of Our Time written by Robert W. Kolb and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-28 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2006 residential real estate prices peaked and started to fall, then threatened the world's financial institutions in 2007, and confronted the global economy with disaster in 2008. In the past few years, millions of people have lost very substantial portions of their wealth. And while the markets have rebounded considerably, they are still far from a full recovery. Now, professional economists, policy experts, public intellectuals, and the public at large are all struggling to understand the crisis that has engulfed us. In The Financial Crisis of Our Time, Robert W. Kolb provides an essential, comprehensive review of the context within which these events unfolded, arguing that while the crisis had no single cause, housing finance played a central role, and that to understand what happened, one must comprehend the mechanism by which the housing industry came into crisis. Kolb offers a history of the housing finance system as it developed throughout the twentieth century, and especially in the period from 1990 to 2006, showing how the originate-to-distribute model of mortgage financing presented market participants with a "clockwork of perverse incentives." In this system, various participants-simply by pursuing their narrow personal interests-participated in an elaborate mechanism that led to disaster. The book then gives a narrative of the crisis as it developed and analyzes all of the participants in the housing market, from the home buyers to investors in collaterialized debt obligations (CDOs). At each step, the book explains in a nontechnical manner the essential relationships among the market participants and zeroes in on the incentives facing each party. The book also includes an extensive glossary and a detailed, authoritative timeline of the subprime financial crisis. Offering a unique look at the participants and incentives within the housing finance industry and its role in the biggest financial catastrophe in recent history, Robert W. Kolb provides one of the most comprehensive and illuminating accounts of the events that will be studied for decades to come as the financial crisis of our time.

Crashed

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0525558802
Total Pages : 460 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

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Book Synopsis Crashed by : Adam Tooze

Download or read book Crashed written by Adam Tooze and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018 ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES CRITICS' TOP BOOK "An intelligent explanation of the mechanisms that produced the crisis and the response to it...One of the great strengths of Tooze's book is to demonstrate the deeply intertwined nature of the European and American financial systems."--The New York Times Book Review From the prizewinning economic historian and author of Shutdown and The Deluge, an eye-opening reinterpretation of the 2008 economic crisis (and its ten-year aftermath) as a global event that directly led to the shockwaves being felt around the world today. We live in a world where dramatic shifts in the domestic and global economy command the headlines, from rollbacks in US banking regulations to tariffs that may ignite international trade wars. But current events have deep roots, and the key to navigating today’s roiling policies lies in the events that started it all—the 2008 economic crisis and its aftermath. Despite initial attempts to downplay the crisis as a local incident, what happened on Wall Street beginning in 2008 was, in fact, a dramatic caesura of global significance that spiraled around the world, from the financial markets of the UK and Europe to the factories and dockyards of Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, forcing a rearrangement of global governance. With a historian’s eye for detail, connection, and consequence, Adam Tooze brings the story right up to today’s negotiations, actions, and threats—a much-needed perspective on a global catastrophe and its long-term consequences.

Anatomy of a Banking Scandal

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351531794
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (515 download)

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Book Synopsis Anatomy of a Banking Scandal by : Robert Pasley

Download or read book Anatomy of a Banking Scandal written by Robert Pasley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early 1990s, the First National Bank of Keystone in West Virginia began buying and securitizing subprime mortgages from all over the country, and quickly grew from a tiny bank with just $100 million in assets to over $1.1 billion. For three years, it was listed as the most profitable large community bank in the country. It was all a fraud. All of the securitization deals the bank entered into lost money. To hide that fact, bank insiders started cooking the books, and concealing that they were also embezzling millions of dollars from the bank. This was all hidden from the bank's attorneys and auditors, federal bank examiners, and even the board of directors of the bank. To keep the examiners at bay, the bank insiders did everything possible to avoid giving them access to documents they were entitled to see, documents they knew would sink their scheme. The head of the bank even went so far as to bury four large truckloads of documents in a ditch on her ranch. Robert S. Pasley explores the failure of the First National Bank of Keystone, the intrigue involved, and the lessons that could have been learned and still can be learned about how banks operate, how federal banking regulators supervise financial institutions, how agencies interact with one another, and how such failures can be avoided in the future.

Financial Shock

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Author :
Publisher : FT Press
ISBN 13 : 0137004214
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (37 download)

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Book Synopsis Financial Shock by : Mark Zandi

Download or read book Financial Shock written by Mark Zandi and published by FT Press. This book was released on 2008-07-09 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The obvious place to start is the financial crisis and the clearest guide to it that I’ve read is Financial Shock by Mark Zandi. ... it is an impressively lucid guide to the big issues.” – The New York Times “In Financial Shock, Mr. Zandi provides a concise and lucid account of the economic, political and regulatory forces behind this binge.” – The Wall Street Journal “Aggressive builders, greedy lenders, optimistic home buyers: Zandi succinctly dissects the mortgage mess from start to (one hopes) finish.” – U.S. News and World Report “A more detailed look at the crisis comes from economist Mark Zandi, co-founder of Moody's Economy.com. His “Financial Shock” delves deeply into the history of the mortgage market, the bad loans, the globalization of trashy subprime paper and how homebuilders ran amok. Zandi's analysis is eye-opening. ... he paints an impressive, more nuanced picture.” – Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine “If you wonder how it could be possible for a subprime mortgage loan to bring the global financial system and the U.S. economy to its knees, you should read this book. No one is better qualified to provide this insight and advice than Mark Zandi.” –Larry Kudlow, Host, CNBC’s Kudlow & Company “Every once in a while a book comes along that’s so important, it commands recognition. This is one of them. Zandi provides a rilliant blow-by-blow account of how greed, stupidity, and recklessness brought the first major economic crises of the 21st entury and the most serious since the Great Depression.” –Bernard Baumohl,Managing Director, The Economic Outlook Group and best-selling author, The Secrets of Economic Indicators “Throughout the financial crisis Mark Zandi has played two important roles. He has insightfully analyzed its causes and thoughtfully recommended steps to alleviate it. This book continues those tasks and adds a third–providing a comprehensive and comprehensible explanation of the issues that is accessible to the general public and extremely useful to those who specialize in the area.” –Barney Frank, Chairman, House Financial Services Committee The subprime crisis created a gigantic financial catastrophe. What happened? How did it happen? How can we prevent similar crises from happening again? Mark Zandi answers all these critical questions–systematically, carefully, and in plain English. Zandi begins with a fast-paced overview and then illuminates the deepest causes, from the psychology of homeownership to Alan Greenspan’s missteps. You’ll see the home “flippers” at work and the real estate agents who cheered them on. You’ll learn how Internet technology and access to global capital transformed the mortgage industry, helping irresponsible lenders drive out good ones. Zandi demystifies the complex financial engineering that enabled lenders to hide deepening risks, shows how global investors eagerly bought in, and explains how flummoxed regulators failed to prevent disaster, despite crucial warning signs. Most important, Zandi offers indispensable advice for investors who must recognize emerging bubbles, policymakers who must improve oversight, and citizens who must survive whatever comes next. Liar’s loans, flippers, predatory lenders, delusional homebuilders How the housing market came unhinged, and the whirlwind came together Alan Greenspan’s trillion-dollar bet Betting on the boom, ignoring the bubble The subprime market goes global Worldwide investors get a piece of the action–and reap the results Wall Street’s alchemists: conjuring up Frankenstein New financial instruments and their hidden contents Back to the future: risk management for the 21st century Respecting the “animal spirits” that drive even the most sophisticated markets