What better guide could we have to the 2008 financial crisis and its resolution than the newest Nobel Laureate in Economics, columnist and author Paul Krugman?

In a dazzling and prescient polemic, now fully update from his 1999 classic, Krugman shows how today's situation parallels the events that caused the Great Depression.  He surveys the economic crises that swept across Asia, Russia and Latin America in the 1990s, and reveals that those crises were a warning for all of us.  Now depression economics has returned: when the great housing bubble of the mid-2000s burst, the Western financial system proved as vulnerable as those of developing countries caught up in earlier crises - and a replay of the 1930s seems all top possible.

Krugman shows how it happened and lays out the steps that must be taken to turn around a world economy sliding into a deep recession.  Brilliantly crafted in his trademark style - lucid, lively, and supremely informed - this will become a cornerstone of the debate over how to respond to our current economic predicament.

Reviews

'A lucid and punchy analysis of the dangers posed by global financial markets and a wake-up call for complacent or economically ignorant policymakers' ECONOMIST

'One of the world's most talented economists . . . his combination of wit and clarity makes him a true heir to Keynes' INDEPENDENT

'Unlikely to be rivalled in its lucidity . . . a rattling good read' FINANCIAL TIMES

"As an economist in good standing, writes MIT economist Krugman, I am quite capable of writing things that nobody can read. Fortunately, Krugman, author of Slates Dismal Science column, is also quite capable of writing things that almost anyone can read. An accomplished translator of economics into English, Krugman (Peddling Prosperity; The Accidental Theorist; etc.) takes a look at the international financial turmoil of the past two years and concludes that, confident assertions of happy globalizers and bullish day traders notwithstanding, a great depression could happen again. Depression economics is back, he argues, meaning that for the first time in two generations, failures on the demand side of the economy... have become the clear and present limitation on prosperity for a large part of the world. Whether discussing the currency collapse in Indonesia, the travails of Brazil and Russia (and how theyre related) or the failure of hedge funds such as Long Term Capital Management, Krugman writes with invigorating lucidity and forceful opinion. Now as in the 1930s, however, one cannot defend globalization merely by repeating free-market mantras, even as economy after economy crashes. If his message is dire, his tone is light, almost jaunty as he calls supply-side economics a crank doctrine and ably articulates a Keynsian willingness to regulate markets in order to stabilize economies and minimize human suffering. Moving from concrete examples (e.g., the struggles of a Japanese baby-sitting coop) to stinging critiques of head-in-the-sand theorists, Krugman proves himself not only comprehensible but also well worth comprehending." Publishers Weekly