Complexity and Crisis in the Financial System: Critical Perspectives on the Evolution of American and British Banking

What are the long-term causes and consequences of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008? This book offers a fresh perspective on these issues by bringing together a range of academics from law, history, economics and business to look in more depth at the changing relationships between crises and complexity in the US and UK financial markets.

With contributions from across the disciplines of law, history, finance, and economics, Complexity and Crisis in the Financial System offers a truly interdisciplinary study of the relationship(s) between crises and complexity in the US and UK financial markets.

Taken together, the contributions in this volume not only challenge many often taken-for-granted ideas about the nature of financial crises, but also broaden our understanding of the long-term causes (and consequences) of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008.

The contributors are motivated by three main questions:-

Is the present financial system more complex than in the past and, if so, why?

To what extent, and in what ways, does the worldwide financial crisis of 2007–2008 differ from past financial crises?

How can governments, regulators and businesses better manage and deal with increased levels of complexity both in the present and in the future?