Professor Kenneth Rogoff publishes new book, This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly

This Time Is Different traces a history of the financial crises of the past to examine eight centuries of varying financial collapse from around the world. The authors’ incisive analysis and use of comprehensive data from numerous countries around the globe portray a vast panorama of economic cycles of expansion and collapse through “government defaults, banking panics, and inflationary spikes—from medieval currency debasements to today's subprime catastrophe.” This is an important book that will impact discussions on economic policy over the long term.

"Reinhart and Rogoff have compiled an impressive database, which covers eight centuries of government debt defaults from around the world. They have also collected statistics on inflation rates from every country where information is available and on banking crises and international capital flows over the past couple of centuries. This lengthy historical study gives what they call a 'panoramic view' of the unending cycle of boom and bust, showing how claims that 'this time is different' are invariably proven wrong. . . . This Time Is Different doesn't simply explain what went wrong in our most recent crisis. This book also provides a roadmap of how things are likely to pan out in the years to come. . . . This Time Is Different is an important addition to the literature of financial history."--Edward Chancellor, Wall Street Journal

"[E]ssential reading . . . both for its originality and for the sobering patterns of financial behaviour it reveals."--Economist

Available from Princeton University Press: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8973.html

Links to reviews of Professor Rogoff’s new book, This Time Is Different:
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/rogoff/Books_Rogoff
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/rogoff/TTID_Discussions

 Professor Rogoff's faculty webpage:
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/rogoff