IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rbs/ijbrss/v4y2015i1p01-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Financial Crisis: Lessons from History

Author

Listed:
  • Brian Grinder

    (Professor of Finance, Eastern Washington University)

  • Robert Sarikas

    (Associate Professor of Accounting, Ohio University)

  • Dean Kiefer

    (Associate Professor of Finance, Eastern Washington University)

  • Arsen Djatej

    (Professor of Accounting, Eastern Washington University)

Abstract

Financial crises have regularly afflicted economies throughout history and the United States has been no exception. This paper examines the Panic of 1907, the Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression and the Great Recession of 2007-08 and discusses the responses of the government and regulators. The short version of the story is that the while the government response has varied in terms of monetary and fiscal policy, the regulatory response has remained essentially the same. The typical reactive regulation sounds good and gives the appearance of accomplishing something but, in fact, only serves to sow the seeds of future crises. The ineffective implementation of existing regulation has had a similar result. Indeed, several authors note that most financial innovation in recent years has its origins in circumventing new regulations. Likewise, government monetary and fiscal responses may or may not help the economy and often give the appearance of great arbitrariness. Our conclusion is that there will be unforeseen financial crises in the future, sweeping regulation and promises of recent politicians notwithstanding. Serious study of the unanticipated consequences of this regulation and the development of more robust risk management systems will help us mitigate the effects of future crises but will be of little assistance when it comes to avoiding them. Developing the analyses and risk management systems requires a detailed study of financial history keep both successes and failures fresh in our collective memory. Key Words:Economy, Great Depression, Recession, History, Risk Management

Suggested Citation

  • Brian Grinder & Robert Sarikas & Dean Kiefer & Arsen Djatej, 2015. "The Financial Crisis: Lessons from History," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 4(1), pages 01-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:4:y:2015:i:1:p:01-16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/142/145
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/142
    Download Restriction: no

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reinhart, Karmen & Rogoff, Kenneth, 2009. ""This time is different": panorama of eight centuries of financial crises," Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 1, pages 77-114, March.
    2. Charles W. Calomiris, 2010. "The political lessons of Depression-era banking reform," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 540-560, Autumn.
    3. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2009. "Varieties of Crises and Their Dates," Introductory Chapters,in: This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly Princeton University Press.
    4. Miller, Merton H., 1986. "Financial Innovation: The Last Twenty Years and the Next," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(04), pages 459-471, December.
    5. John C. Coates IV, 2007. "The Goals and Promise of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 91-116, Winter.
    6. Haidan Li & Morton Pincus & Sonja Olhoft Rego, 2008. "Market Reaction to Events Surrounding the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Earnings Management," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(1), pages 111-134, February.
    7. Donaldson, R. Glen, 1993. "Financing banking crises : Lessons from the panic of 1907," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 69-95, February.
    8. C. Lowell Harriss, 1951. "History and Policies of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number harr51-1, September.
    9. Harold L. Cole & Lee E. Ohanian, 2004. "New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(4), pages 779-816, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:4:y:2015:i:1:p:01-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Umit Hacioglu). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/ssbffea.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.