ECON 536
Financial Crises: Causes and Cures
Last Offered Spring 2019
Division II
Cross-listed ECON 390 / ECON 536
This course is not offered in the current catalog or this is a previous listing for a current course.

Financial crises have been with us for as long as banking has existed. Why are crises such a regular fixture of societies, and what can be done to prevent them, or at least reduce their cost? Topics examined include bubbles and swindles, especially when these spillover to the broader macroeconomy; the role of information in banking in normal times and in bank runs; boom-bust cycles in asset markets; international contagion; crisis resolution techniques; and the extensive history of attempts to improve regulation so as to reduce the frequency and cost of crises. Crises in developing and developed economies from the South Sea Bubble to the Euro Crisis will be examined, and the role of political economy factors in their run-up and resolution will be featured.