Today's financial crisis is the result of dismal failures on the
part of regulators, market analysts, and corporate executives. Yet
the response of the American government has been to bail out the
very institutions and individuals that have wrought such havoc upon
the nation. Are such massive bailouts really called for? Can they
succeed?
Robert E. Wright and his colleagues provide an unbiased history
of government bailouts and a frank assessment of their
effectiveness. Their book recounts colonial America's struggle to
rectify the first dangerous real estate bubble and the British
government's counterproductive response. It explains how Alexander
Hamilton allowed central banks and other lenders to bail out
distressed but sound businesses without rewarding or encouraging
the risky ones. And it shows how, in the second half of the
twentieth century, governments began to bail out distressed
companies, industries, and even entire economies in ways that
subsidized risk takers while failing to reinvigorate the economy.
By peering into the historical uses of public money to save private
profit, this volume suggests better ways to control risk in the
future.
Additional Columbia / SSRC books on the privatization of risk
and its implications for Americans:
Health at Risk: America's Ailing Health System--and How to Heal
ItEdited by Jacob S. Hacker
Laid Off, Laid Low: Political and Economic Consequences of
Employment InsecurityEdited by Katherine S. Newman
Pensions, Social Security, and the Privatization of RiskEdited
by Mitchell A. Orenstein
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!