The End of Alchemy: Banking, the Global Economy and the Future of Money | 拾書所

The End of Alchemy: Banking, the Global Economy and the Future of Money

$ 599 元 原價 599

內容簡介

「也許Mervyn King寫了一本關於金融危機的最重要著作。不管你同不同意,King充滿遠見的想法,值得受到從經濟學科學生到國家領導人的關注。」──薩默斯(Lawrence H. Summers),美國前財政部長

貨幣與銀行系統,究竟是有如鍊金術的一種形式,還是現代資本經濟的致命弱 
點?

銀行系統出了問題,眾所皆知。但曾在2003到2013年於英格蘭銀行 (Bank of England) 擔任行長的Mervyn King,早已先一步得知。他在英國中央銀行的十年任期內,經歷全球金融危機,也看到關於資本社會機制的重要真相。

在過去的二十年間前所未見的成長與穩定,接踵而來的,卻是工業化世界所面臨最嚴重的金融危機。在一夕之間,信念變成了懷疑。即使這些金融事件仍記憶猶新,卻只不過是在當前貿易系統成為現代資本主義的基石後,一連串金融危機中的最近幾樁。大部份的分析,著重於金融危機的徵候,而不是探討在根本之處,是哪裡出了差錯。本書說明,為什麼問題的癥結點不是在於銀行系統或政令決策,而是在於想法。

工業革命奠定了現代資本時代的基礎。在那個充滿動能的時代裡,科技創新的活絡,所依賴的是兩個早被廣為採用的古老想法:紙幣的誕生,以及發放信用額度的銀行的產生。當今,我們將這兩種系統視為理所當然,然而,這兩個發明,實為深具革命性的想法,甚至幾乎到了具有魔力的境界。普通的紙變得有如黃金般珍貴,而具有風險的長期貸款,則被轉化為保險的短期銀行存款。

如作者所述,這是「金融煉金術」;威力強大的金融力量,違抗了現實與常識。人們對於金融力量的信任,帶來龐大利益;它們所創造的流動性,在兩個世紀以來,不斷驅使著經濟成長。然而,它們也帶來永無止境的經濟災難,從惡性通貨膨脹、銀行系統的崩解、全球金融衰退,到現今的經濟停滯。

我們該如何在這些強大力量與潛在弱點間做平衡?作者從自身的特殊經驗中提出詮釋,在這本不可或缺的重要著作中,爬梳金錢與銀行的歷史與未來,以及現代金融的關鍵,為全球經濟指引一條向前邁進的明燈。

The past twenty years saw unprecedented growth and stability followed by the worst financial crisis the industrialised world has ever witnessed. In the space of little more than a year what had been seen as the age of wisdom was viewed as the age of foolishness. Almost overnight, belief turned into incredulity.

Most accounts of the recent crisis focus on the symptoms and not the underlying causes of what went wrong. But those events, vivid though they remain in our memories, comprised only the latest in a long series of financial crises since our present system of commerce became the cornerstone of modern capitalism. Alchemy explains why, ultimately, this was and remains a crisis not of banking - even if we need to reform the banking system - nor of policy-making - even if mistakes were made - but of ideas.

In this refreshing and vitally important book, former governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King - an actor in this drama - proposes revolutionary new concepts to answer the central question: are money and banking a form of Alchemy or are they the Achilles heel of a modern capitalist economy?

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