About the Author

Charles P. Kindleberger is the Ford International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among his many works is A Financial History of Western Europe, Second Edition (Oxford, 1993) and Manias, Panics and Crashes (1989).

Reviews

"A valuable addition to all libraries."--Choice
"This work, by one of the most learned and erudite economists of our time, deals with a most timely topic, economic leadership. It is based on a long life of learning, analysis and thought about the kind of economic matters that truly matter: which countries became the world's economic and technological leaders, why did they do so, and why did such leadership inevitably prove ephemeral. A dazzling survey of world economic history, it should be made mandatory
reading to all economists concerned with economic growth."--Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University
"Mix vast knowledge and experience with important ideas and concepts and you have vintage Kindleberger--this time giving us his penetrating analysis of the rise and fall of dominant economies. As always from him, documentation is meticulous and the writing is clear, pungent and spiced with wit. A wonderfully stimulating read."--George P. Shultz, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
"Vintage Kindleberger--witty, wise, and provocative."--Rondo Cameron, Emory University
"His hallmark is a frank and open personal engagement with his sources and his subjects, unflagging energy in pursuit of his many topics, and a vivacious style. The combination has made for enthralling teaching for his students and colleagues--and for the readers of his intelligent, relevant, entertaining and sometimes opinionated books, of which this study is the latest of a long and notable series."--William N. Parker, Yale University (emeritus)
"...One is not able to do justice to the subtlety and complexity of Kindleberger's arguments, or to the clarity and concision with which they are expressed."--The Historian
"..this volume may serve as a convenient handbook of much recent scholarship on the subject....Kindleberger deserves the gratitude of scholars for an insightful overview of an important question."--American Historical Review
"...this work is a pleasure to read. It is an educated, provocative study that any economist interested in economic growth and decline should consult."--Journal of Economic Literature
"A valuable addition to all libraries."--Choice
"This work, by one of the most learned and erudite economists of our time, deals with a most timely topic, economic leadership. It is based on a long life of learning, analysis and thought about the kind of economic matters that truly matter: which countries became the world's economic and technological leaders, why did they do so, and why did such leadership inevitably prove ephemeral. A dazzling survey of world economic history, it should be made mandatory
reading to all economists concerned with economic growth."--Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University
"Mix vast knowledge and experience with important ideas and concepts and you have vintage Kindleberger--this time giving us his penetrating analysis of the rise and fall of dominant economies. As always from him, documentation is meticulous and the writing is clear, pungent and spiced with wit. A wonderfully stimulating read."--George P. Shultz, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
"Vintage Kindleberger--witty, wise, and provocative."--Rondo Cameron, Emory University
"His hallmark is a frank and open personal engagement with his sources and his subjects, unflagging energy in pursuit of his many topics, and a vivacious style. The combination has made for enthralling teaching for his students and colleagues--and for the readers of his intelligent, relevant, entertaining and sometimes opinionated books, of which this study is the latest of a long and notable series."--William N. Parker, Yale University (emeritus)
"...One is not able to do justice to the subtlety and complexity of Kindleberger's arguments, or to the clarity and concision with which they are expressed."--The Historian
"..this volume may serve as a convenient handbook of much recent scholarship on the subject....Kindleberger deserves the gratitude of scholars for an insightful overview of an important question."--American Historical Review
"...this work is a pleasure to read. It is an educated, provocative study that any economist interested in economic growth and decline should consult."--Journal of Economic Literature