In response to the ongoing financial crisis, the U.S. government has significantly expanded its role in economy, resulting in new legislation and both public and private policy overhauls. But these hasty efforts to buoy the economy may ultimately do more harm than good. In No Way Out?, Vincent R. Reinhart and his coauthors provide a concise narrative of the financial crisis, the mismatched market incentives and government policies that precipitated it, and the likelihood of its recurrence. This volume is an indispensable resource for policymakers and financial leaders and a timely reminder that until we understand the history of government intervention in the marketplace, we are doomed to repeat failed policies.

In the decades before the global financial crisis struck in 2007, economic policymakers kept to the primary goal of containing inflation and public deficits. Today, after years of sluggish economic recovery, the time has come for that prevailing consensus to give way to a new strategy of monetary stimulus to spur economic growth and encourage risk-taking by investors. In this book, Angel Ubide surveys the actions taken by central banks after the crisis and draws lessons from the unpredictable interaction of markets, countries, and financial institutions. He concludes that fear of another crippling crisis has caused central banks to become dangerously risk-averse and overly complacent about dampened economic growth. He advances the provocative thesis that monetary policymakers, accustomed to a "boring" role in managing economies, must now leave their "comfort zone" and embrace risk as a necessary requirement for growth.