The Credit Crunch - Housing Bubbles

The Credit Crunch, Housing Bubbles, Globalisation and the WorldwideEconomic Crisis--------------------------------------------------This book argues that the current financial turmoil signals a crisisin globalisation that will directly challenge the free market economicmodel. Graham Turner shows that the housing bubbles in the West weredeliberately created to mask the damage inflicted by companies shiftingproduction abroad in an attempt to boost profits. As these bubblesburst, economic growth in many developed countries will inevitablytumble. The Japanese crisis of the 1990s shows that banks and governmentsmay struggle to contain the fallout. The problem has not been limitedto the US, UK and Europe: housing bubbles have become endemic acrosswide swathes of emerging market economies. As the West slides, thesecountries will see an implosion of their credit bubbles too, shakingtheir faith in the free market. Turner is an experienced and successfuleconomic forecaster, whose opinions are sought by large internationalbanks and top financial journalists. Drawing from his first hand experienceof the Japanese property crash of the 1990s, he presents his analysisin a clear and persuasive style, showing that the end of housing marketgrowth spells disaster for neoliberal globalisation.--------------------------------------------------Author Biography: Graham Turner is the author of the Credit Crunch(Pluto Press, 2008) and founder of GFC Economics, an independent economicconsultancy which provides forecasting services for some of the world'slargest banks. He has worked in the financial sector for over 20 years,spending the 1990s working for Japanese banks.