'What kind of financial system meets the needs the needs of the economy and how best to avoid excessive financialization and instability are pressing policy issues in the wake of the Great Recession and Global Financial Crisis. These are also issues on which historical evidence sheds valuable light, as the contributors to this fine volume make demonstrably clear. Not only scholars, but also policy makers and regulators, should pay heed to this book.' Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkley

'This is an important collection of new essays by leading economic and financial historians and economists. Covering a broad range of countries and time periods, they make an excellent and compelling case for the at times overlooked contribution of different types of financial developments to economic growth and change.' Stanley L. Engerman, University of Rochester

'In this book, some of the top financial historians in the world explain how the various parts of the complex American financial system evolved through past crises. In the process, eventually the financial system learned how to sustain economic growth. This time will not be different if their lessons from history are learned.' Larry D. Neal, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign