Global Capital Markets: Integration, Crisis, and Growth | Maurice Obstfeld, Alan M. Taylor

Cambridge University Press | December 2003 | Hardback | 384 pages | ISBN: 0521633176

The rise, fall and rise again of financial globalization between the nineteenth century and the 1990s is a topic of burning interest to economists and economic historians alike. This invaluable volume is the culmination of nearly a decade of path-breaking research by Maurice Obstfeld and Alan M. Taylor into international capital mobility and its macroeconomic significance over the long run. No one who wishes to have a historically informed understanding of global financial markets — and the crises which afflict them — can afford to ignore it.
Niall Ferguson, New York University

In Global Capital Markets, Maurice Obstfeld and Alan Taylor present a comprehensive and pragmatic approach to studying the costs and benefits of integration into the global financial system. They start by drawing on the relevant theory and then examine an enormous range of evidence, starting from the gold standard system, through the most recent econometric studies. And they reach thoroughly sensible, nuanced conclusions, namely — well, you should really read the book to find out.
Stanley Fischer, Vice Chairman, Citigroup; former Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

The costs and benefits of international capital flows have been the focus of much of the controversy over globalization. Obstfeld and Taylor provide a compelling and comprehensive study of the economics and history of capital market integration, that makes very clear the great benefits of integration as well as explaining clearly the circumstances in which the costs arise. They give us new data and new insights, and above all a new analytical framework. Their careful and convincing analysis should put an end to a great deal of fruitless polemic.
Harold James, Princeton University

This is the place to send your students to find out about international capital flows. Obstfeld and Taylor use economic theory to understand history and, more importantly, history to comprehend and calibrate theory.
Peter Temin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology