

Our newest Nobel Prize-winning economist shows how today's crisis parallels the events that caused the Great Depression and explains what it will take to avoid catastrophe. In his 1999 book, Nobel Prize-winning economist Krugman surveyed the economic crises that had swept across Asia and Latin America, and pointed out that they were a warning: like antibiotic-resistant diseases, the economic maladies that caused the Great Depression were making a comeback. In the years that followed, as Wall Street boomed and wheeler-dealers made vast profits, the crises of the 1990s faded from memory. But when the great housing bubble of the mid-2000s burst, the U.S. financial system proved as vulnerable as those of developing countries. In this greatly updated edition, Krugman shows how the failure of regulation to keep pace with an out-of-control financial system set the United States, and the world, up for the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. He also lays out the steps that must be taken to contain the crisis, and turn around a world economy sliding into a deep recession.--From publisher description.
A glimpse inside

Krugman argues that the economic maladies thought to be banished after the Great Depression—bank runs, panics, and self-reinforcing downturns—have returned in new forms. The crises of the 1990s in Asia and Latin America, and later the 2008 financial meltdown, echo the same dynamics that devastated economies in the 1930s. The book warns against complacency, stressing that modern financial systems are not immune to old-fashioned instability.
Krugman highlights how the rapid globalization of finance has increased both opportunities and risks. Capital can now move across borders with unprecedented speed, but this also means that panic and contagion can spread just as quickly. The Asian financial crisis serves as a case study of how speculative attacks and sudden reversals of investor confidence can cripple entire economies, especially when regulation and oversight lag behind innovation.
Ratings at a glance
- 1History Repeats: Old Economic Threats Return
- 2The Power and Peril of Financial Globalization
- 3Market Irrationality and Self-Fulfilling Crises
- 4The Limits of Monetary Policy
- 5The Essential Role of Government Intervention
Popular quotes from The Return of Depression Economics
“The world is a dangerous place, economically as well as politically.”
“Depression economics is back.”