Crashes and Crises: Lessons from a History of Financial Disasters

By: Connel Fullenkamp, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Connel Fullenkamp

Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Professor Connel Fullenkamp of Duke University guides listeners through four centuries of economic disasters - from tulip mania in the 1600s to the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Each of his 24 lectures covers a notable incident of financial misfortune or folly that is worthy of a Hollywood thriller. You hear how Charles Ponzi conducted the moneymaking scam that bears his name; how mining companies in the Old West sprang up like Internet start-ups, with a similar imbalance of winners and losers; how hyperinflation destroyed Germany’s economy at the beginning of 1920s and how its resulting stock market crash nearly sank America’s stock market.

You also hear how the Great Depression deepened through a wave of bank panics; how, in more recent times, the US savings and loan industry went belly-up; how Orange County in California went bankrupt, how Japan’s hard-charging economy came to a screeching halt; how currency crises swept the globe; how subprime mortgages nearly sparked a second Great Depression; and much more. You also learn how technology has transformed stock trading, how cryptocurrencies work, and why we live in an era of financial instability.

As well as entertaining you with riveting stories, Professor Fullenkamp inoculates you against the gullibility, overconfidence, and herd mentality that have trapped even Wall Street professionals in misguided investments that lost billions. You won’t have any trouble staying awake through these stimulating lectures. And, armed with the knowledge of how to stay out of harm’s way, you may even sleep better at night.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2018 The Great Courses

learned why Ponzi schemes are called Ponzi schemes

the professor makes learning about crashes and crisis's almost as exciting as James Bond or Sherlock Holmes

Really enjoyable if you have a mind for economics.

Very well narrated and very interesting if you're able to think through it. Be prepared to hit the backup button here and there to be able to think through it.

it's different this time

same old same old. rich behave badly government bails them out the rest of us have to pay. There's a sucker born every minute and unfortunately that is us.

A must listen to for those interesting in finance

This is a must read for all of those interested not just in the modern day world of finance, but also what happened before that created the world we live in today.

Educational, data dense

I really enjoyed this lecture and this is a topic very close to my career so it was very eye opening. As with all data driven fields, numbers can be skewed but I found the narrator kept bias out of the general lecture and would disclose his opinions as inserted.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an overview and history of financial market and system crisis.

Superb

I learned so much from the lessons of the past. Highly recommended to everyone to read this book.

As always - brilliant!

All my reviews of the Great Courses series are the same - absolutely brilliant! Highly recommend! Because that’s exactly what they are.

Roman
CEO, Splento

Engaging but hard to follow sometimes

The subject is important, especially that human beings tend to have short memories and with the passing of one generation over the other. The language might be too technical sometimes and dry.

If you’re not verse with financial basics, this is not for you. The stories here are not very entertaining

Wow...

I wish there was a part 2... This lecture does a great job of summarizing and simplifying global market crashes throughout the ages.

Brilliantly explained and prescient

This was more interesting than I would have thought. Picking on the most we’ll know crises and scam artists to illustrate economic points makes the lessons interesting.

Well worth the listen, especially give our current turbulent times. I expect a few of these ‘classic’ errors to be repeated.