Richard Vague's new book on financial crises repeats many old myths about economic booms, while failing to understand the role of malinvestment and central banks.
Business owners have always made errors, and external factors can lead to economic crises of various sorts. But the cyclical pattern of booms and busts we now see are a result of government interventions not seen in a free marketplace.
Whiskey production depends on investment in highly specific capital, and it requires a long time horizon. It's a textbook case of the sort of industry that's likely to suffer most in case of an economic bust.
While much of the media remains focused on Trump and trade, the greatest threat to the Chinese economy may be reckoning with a massive financial bubble from within.
The world now has the impossible choice of permanently reduced productivity and slower economic growth — or the mass bankruptcy of a significant percentage of the economy.
Vikram Mansharamani’s second edition of Boombustology: Spotting Financial Bubbles Before They Bursthas all the great insights from the first edition plus a foreword by James Grant.