Over the course of the 1850s and 1860s, during the first era of globalization, the world experienced an unprecedented economic boom. Fueling this expansion was an explosion in the global bond market, at the hub of which stood one family—the Rothschilds, arguably the wealthiest banking family in history. While the giant sums of capital provided through the bond market built the railroads, the century’s most transformative investments, the money raised also unleashed a frenzy of speculation, massive overinvestment, and wasteful borrowing by governments.

This talk, based on Pulitzer-winner Liaquat Ahamed's latest book, is a bird’s-eye reckoning with the full dimension of the crisis, from its buildup to its long aftermath. The Rothschilds and a cast of other witnesses give us the human perspective. And we have a brilliant financial historian’s grasp of the larger forces at play, resulting in a global narrative with thrilling explanatory power.

During the 1920s and 1930s at the time of the Great Depression, central bankers had to deal with multiple challenges: real estate and stock market bubbles and busts, collapses in confidence, runs on the financial system, disruptive capital flows, unstable exchange rates and currency and trade wars. Over the last six years central bankers have faced similar challenges. Drawing on his best-selling, Pulitzer-prize winning book, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, Liaquat will describe the similarities and differences between then and now and assess the actions economic officials have taken to avoid a repeat of the cataclysm of the 1930s.

Insights from the Great Depression about the forces that cause global financial crises, and what history can (or cannot) tell us about the right medicine for a sick economy • How the people at the center of a crisis impact world events, and the non-economic factors that play an important role in economic decisions • The need for political will in today’s economy, and the actions that officials must take to avoid repeating history