Overview

The financial world is experiencing increasing financial volatility with far more frequent financial booms and busts. Dr Peter Jonson is a former Chief Economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia and a lifelong economic thinker and writer.In Great Crises of Capitalism, Peter summarises four hundred years of capitalist progress, including the costly setbacks from major wars and repeated episodes of financial instability. Such episodes are occurring with greater frequency, and this presents great dangers and also great opportunities for governments, for professional investors and managers of people’s individual or family financial nest eggs.The concluding chapters include messages for governments, central banks and individual or family investors. Booms are not all bad, as big and often exciting projects are undertaken when people’s confidence is high, while most of the crooks and incompetents get found out in the busts. Peter Jonson says it would be futile, as well as counterproductive, to strangle the golden goose that is capitalism by more and more constricting regulations. Sensible policies can, however, be devised to reduce the damaging froth and bubble. Beyond that point, companies and individuals, even governments, need robust strategies to benefit from the booms, avoid the worst of the busts and then go shopping for bargains.The final chapter discusses future crises of capitalism. Peter Jonson believes that the biggest threat to capitalism is instability caused by policy swings: expansion/recovery/asset inflation/goods inflation/policy-tightens/economy-falls back, etc. Such outcomes would destabilise the beliefs of the econocrats in major countries, as well as their political masters, making policies even worse, and greatly damage economic performance. But we also need policies to counter geopolitical risks, epidemics and shortage of clean water and other resources as the global population approaches 9 billion people.

Full Product Details

9781921421891

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Peter Jonson is a professional director and economist. He serves on the boards of listed companies Village Roadshow, Bionomics and Pro Medicus. Chairman of the Melbourne Institute Advisory Board from 1992 to 2002, now Chair Emeritus. Founding Chair of the Australian Institute for Commercialisation (2002 to 2007). Chair of the Commonwealth government Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Committee since 2005. Peter has been Chairman of ANZ Funds Management, Group Managing Director of Norwich Union Financial Services Ltd and Head of Research at James Capel Australia Limited. Peter held a number of senior positions as an economist with the Reserve Bank of Australia from 1972 to 1988. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available