Despite the gloom and doom of the present financial crisis, the current situation is not unique. Between 1618 and 1998, 38 serious financial crises in the world have been identified in Mania’s, Panics and Crashes, by Charles P. Kindleberger, of which 11 occurred in the last 100 years. This means there is a financial crisis about every ten years, so it is surprising we haven’t yet found out how to deal with them.

This interesting fact is quoted by Johan A. Lybeck in A Global History of the financial Crash of 2007-10, published this year by Cambridge University Press.