They show that financial innovation has decoupled the real and financial sectors – not always to the benefit of economic stability – and argue that financial markets should be regulated more astutely in order to reinforce transparency and accountability.

Contents: Introduction Óscar Dejuán, Eladio Febrero and Maria Cristina Marcuzzo PART I: ECONOMISTS ON TRIAL 1. Who Predicted the Crisis and What Can We Learn from Them? Dirk J. Bezemer 2. A Brief Note on Economic Recessions, Banking Reform and the Future of Capitalism Jesús Huerta de Soto 3. Understanding Crisis: On the Meaning of Uncertainty and Probability Ekaterina Svetlova and Matthias Fiedler 4. Financial Crisis and Risk Measurement: The Historical Perspective and a New Methodology Gumersindo Ruiz and Ramón Trías 5. Did Economic Analysis Fail in the Current Financial Crisis? Julio Segura PART II: WHAT DOES HISTORY TELL US? 6. Does the Current Global Crisis Remind us of the Great Depression? Sunanda Sen 7. Innovation, Growth, Cycles and Finance: Three (or Four or More) Stories from the 1930s and their Lessons Catherine P. Winnett and Adrian B. Winnett 8. Epic Recession and Economic Theory Jack Rasmus 9. Did Asset Prices Cause the Current Crisis? Edith Skriner 10. The Role of the History of Economic Thought in the Development of Economic Theory and Policy Steven Kates PART III: COUNTRY CASES IN A GLOBAL CRISIS 11. Testimony to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission by Alan Greenspan Editorial note 12. Long-term Depression and New Markets: Economists and the 2008 Recession Davide Gualerzi 13. Manifestations of the Global Crisis in a Small Open Economy Ivars Brīvers 14. The Aftermath of a Long Decade of Real Nil Interest Rates (Spain 1996–2008) Óscar Dejuán and Eladio Febrero Index