A clear, authoritative guide to the crisis of 2008, its continuing repercussions, and the needed reforms ahead. The U.S. economy lost the first decade of the twenty-first century to an ill-conceived boom and subsequent bust. It is in danger of losing another decade to the stagnation of an incomplete recovery. How did this happen? Read this lucid explanation of the origins and long-term effects of the recent financial crisis, drawn in historical and comparative perspective by two leading political economists. By 2008 the United States had become the biggest international borrower in world history, with more than two-thirds of its $6 trillion federal debt in foreign hands. The proportion of foreign loans to the size of the economy put the United States in league with Mexico, Indonesia, and other third-world debtor nations. The massive inflow of foreign funds financed the booms in housing prices and consumer spending that fueled the economy until the collapse of late 2008. This was the most serious international economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Menzie Chinn and Jeffry Frieden explain the political and economic roots of this crisis as well as its long-term effects. They explore the political strategies behind the Bush administration’s policy of funding massive deficits with foreign borrowing. They show that the crisis was foreseen by many and was avoidable through appropriate policy measures. They examine the continuing impact of our huge debt on the continuing slow recovery from the recession. Lost Decades will long be regarded as the standard account of the crisis and its aftermath.

This book examines five features of Japan’s ‘Lost Decades’: the speed of the economic decline in Japan compared to Japan’s earlier global prowess; a rapidly declining population; considerable political instability and failed reform attempts; shifting balances of power in the region and changing relations with Asian neighbouring nations; and the lingering legacy of World War Two. Addressing the question of why the decades were lost, this book offers 15 new perspectives ranging from economics to ideology and beyond. Investigating problems such as the risk-averse behaviour of Japan’s bureaucracy and the absence of strong political leadership, the authors analyse how the delay of ‘loss-cutting policies’ led to the 1997 financial crisis and a state of political gridlock where policymakers could not decide on firm strategies that would benefit national interests. To discuss the rebuilding of Japan, the authors argue that it is first essential to critically examine Japan’s ‘Lost Decades’ and this book offers a comprehensive overview of Japan’s recent 20 years of crisis. The book reveals that the ‘Lost Decades’ is not an issue unique to the Japanese context but has global relevance, and its study can provide important insights into challenges being faced in other mature economies. With chapters written by some of the world’s leading Japan specialists and chapters focusing on a variety of disciplines, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in the areas of Japan studies, Politics, International Relations, Security Studies, Government Policy and History.

This book discusses Japan’s long-term economic recession and provides remedies for that recession that are useful for other Asian economies. The book addresses why Japan’s economy has stagnated since the bursting of its economic bubble in the 1990s. Its empirical analysis challenges the beliefs of some economists, such as Paul Krugman, that the Japanese economy is caught in a liquidity trap. This book argues that Japan’s economic stagnation stems from a vertical “investment–saving” (IS) curve rather than a liquidity trap. The impact of fiscal policy has declined drastically, and the Japanese economy faces structural problems rather than a temporary downturn. These structural problems have many causes: an aging demographic (a problem that is frequently overlooked), an over-reliance by local governments on transfers from the central government, and Basel capital requirements that have made Japanese banks reluctant to lend money to start-up businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises. This latter issue has discouraged Japanese innovation and technological progress. All these issues are addressed empirically and theoretically, and several remedies for Japan’s long-lasting recession are provided. This volume will be of interest to researchers and policy makers not only in Japan but also the People’s Republic of China, many countries in the eurozone, and the United States, which may face similar challenges in the future.

Before the global financial meltdown of 2008, India's economy was thriving and its GDP growth was cruising at an impressive 8.8 per cent. The economic boom impacted a large section of Indians, even if unequally. With sustained high growth over an extended period, India could have achieved what economists call a 'take-off' (rapid and self-sustained GDP growth). The global financial meltdown disrupted this momentum in 2008. In the decade that followed, each time the country's economy came close to returning to that growth trajectory, political events knocked it off course. In 2019, India's GDP is growing at the rate of 7 per cent, making it the fastest-growing major economy in the world, but little on the ground suggests that Indians are actually better off. Economic discontent and insecurity are on the rise, farmers are restive and land-owning classes are demanding quotas in government jobs. The middle class is palpably disaffected, the informal economy is struggling and big businesses are no longer expanding aggressively. India is not the star it was in 2008 and in effect, the 'India growth story' has devolved into 'growth without a story'. The Lost Decade tells the story of the slide and examines the political context in which the Indian economy failed to recover lost momentum.

An authoritative survey of 2010-20: what went wrong, what went right, and what's next for Britain.

In 1983, following a military dictatorship that left thousands dead and disappeared and the economy in ruins, Raúl Alfonsín was elected president of Argentina on the strength of his pledge to prosecute the armed forces for their crimes and restore a measure of material well-being to Argentine lives. Food, housing, and full employment became the litmus tests of the new democracy. In Search of the Lost Decade reconsiders Argentina’s transition to democracy by examining the everyday meanings of rights and the lived experience of democratic return, far beyond the ballot box and corridors of power. Beginning with promises to eliminate hunger and ending with food shortages and burning supermarkets, Jennifer Adair provides an in-depth account of the Alfonsín government’s unfulfilled projects to ensure basic needs against the backdrop of a looming neoliberal world order. As it moves from the presidential palace to the streets, this original book offers a compelling reinterpretation of post-dictatorship Argentina and Latin America’s so-called lost decade.

This volume of essays explores the social, political and cultural legacies of a decade which has, until relatively recently, received scant scholarly attention. Sandwiched uncomfortably between the traumatic events of the Second World War and the dramatic changes of the 1960s, the 1950s appeared as seemingly transitional years, while they were in fact an astonishingly fecund period of reassessment and experimentation when traditional models were re-evaluated and new models were road-tested, to be either developed or rejected. An important intervention in the dynamic scholarly re-examination of the 1950s, this volume analyzes these years in relation to three broadly defined areas: historiography, politics and society, and culture. What emerges from all three parts of the volume is a vision of the 1950s as a decade which was to have a profound impact on post-war European identities in two key respects: as a time of accelerated European intellectual exchange and as a time of fertile receptivity to the ‘new’, variously formulated and contested across and within national borders. Written by experts in the field, the contributions to this volume represent some of the most exciting work on the 1950s currently being undertaken in Europe and the US. They combine high intellectual standards with accessibility and will appeal to academics, students and the general reader alike.

This book brings to light the social, cultural, political and economic complexities and contradictions of Ireland in the 1950s. There is a strong emphasis on the development of economic thinking and cultural life in Ireland during the 1950s. There are contributions on the role of women in society, the question of abortion and attitudes towards adoption The academic panel, which includes John Banville, Andrew McCarthy, John Bradley and Gerry O'Hanlon, has contributed essays based on original research.

Understanding the 'lost decade' of the 1990s is central to explaining Japan today. Following a period of record high growth, the chronic downturn after 1990 raised fundamental questions about the course of the world's third largest economy. This crisis also presented Japan with the opportunity for transformative change. Changes have followed, some of them less than might be expected, and some of them far more sweeping than is generally realized. This volume presents a wide range of international perspectives on post-bubble Japan, exploring the effects of the long downturn on the views of the Japanese business community, management practices, and national policies. To what degree has Japan's traumatic experience prompted basic reforms in terms of legal changes, corporate governance, business strategy, and the longterm national vision for the economy? This book was originally published as a special issue of Asia Pacific Business Review.

PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITIONS: "Rare is the book in English that provides a general overview of Latin America and the Caribbean. Rarer still is the good, topical, and largely dispassionate book that contributes to a better understanding of the rest of the hemisphere. Peter Winn has managed to produce both."—Miami Herald "This magisterial work provides an accessible and engaging introduction to the complex tapestry of contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean."—Foreign Affairs "A clear, level-headed snapshot of a region in transition…. Winn is most interesting when he discusses the larger issues and to his credit he does this often."—Washington Post Book World "Balanced and wide-ranging…. After canvassing the legacies of the European conquerors, Winn examines issues of national identity and economic development…. Other discussions survey internal migration, the role of indigenous peoples, the complexity of race relations, and the treatment of women." —Publishers Weekly