"Mr. Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard University, accurately predicted the eurozone debt crisis and for years has been telling anyone who would listen that China posed the next big threat to the global economy. He is starting to look right, again. . . . 'China is the classic "This time is different" story,' Mr. Rogoff said."—Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times
"Essential reading . . . both for its originality and for the sobering patterns of financial behaviour it reveals."—The Economist
"Reinhart and Rogoff have compiled an impressive database, which covers eight centuries of government debt defaults from around the world. They have also collected statistics on inflation rates from every country where information is available and on banking crises and international capital flows over the past couple of centuries. This lengthy historical study gives what they call a 'panoramic view' of the unending cycle of boom and bust, showing how claims that 'this time is different' are invariably proven wrong. . . . This Time Is Different doesn't simply explain what went wrong in our most recent crisis. This book also provides a roadmap of how things are likely to pan out in the years to come. . . . This Time Is Different is an important addition to the literature of financial history."—Edward Chancellor, Wall Street Journal
"This Time Is Different doesn't simply explain what went wrong in our most recent crisis. This book also provides a roadmap of how things are likely to pan out in the years to come."—Edward Chancellor, Wall Street Journal
"[T]he most comprehensive study of financial crises and their aftermath."—Eduardo Porter, New York Times
"The most comprehensive study of financial crises and their aftermath."—Eduardo Porter, New York Times
"[A] terrific book."—Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times
"Compelling. . . . The essence of [This Time Is Different] is that while financial crises come in different varieties, they are not mysteriously born of undersea earthquakes, but frequently occurring events that can be spotted and even controlled if politicians and regulators know what to look for."—Devin Leonard, New York Times
"Among policy experts and economists, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly . . . has become so influential that when somebody says, 'We live in a Reinhart-Rogoff world,' everybody else in the room nods sagely."—Justin Lahart, Wall Street Journal
"This is the kind of economics we desperately need, as it is relevant, fact-based and replete with wisdom from the past—and lessons for the future."—Irish Times
"[O]ne of the most important economic books of 2009."—Jon Hilsenrath, Wall Street Journal
"Among policy experts and economists, This Time is Different . . . has become so influential that when somebody says, 'We live in a Reinhart-Rogoff world,' everybody else in the room nods sagely."—Justin Lahart, Wall Street Journal
"Two top-notch economists provide a clear and interesting explanation of why economic crises keep occurring. Broadly speaking, downturns such as the one we are recovering from are historically associated with characteristics that should sound quite familiar to today's investors."—David Schwartz, Financial Times
"The definitive book on financial crises."—Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post
"The four most dangerous words in finance are 'this time is different.' Thanks to this masterpiece by Carmen Reinhart at the University of Maryland and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard, no one can doubt this again. . . . The authors have put an immense amount of work into collecting the data financial institutions needed if they were to have any chance of making quantitative risk management work."—Martin Wolf, Financial Times
"[A] fine new history of financial debacles."—Daniel Gross, Newsweek
"Seminal."—Rana Faroohar and Bill Saporito, Time
"Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff have delivered a powerful and eloquent statement. . . . Reinhart and Rogoff have done an extraordinary job in putting together statistics on government debt—a task that economic historians should have done long ago but shied away from because of the difficulties of defining 'government', which is often complex and multi-layered."—Harold James, The American Interest
"Financial folly, economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff show in this groundbreaking book, knows no boundaries and has no expiration date. . . . For a book built around numbers, This Time is Different makes for surprisingly good reading. The authors are well aware that human nature is at the heart of the disasters they document, and they enliven the text with brief and amusing accounts of charlatans and cheats."—Paul Wiseman, USA Today
"A tour de force of quantitative analysis covering financial crises affecting 66 countries over the past 800 years, the book identifies pre-crisis patterns that recur with eerie consistency. This Time is Different is a must-read for anyone on the lookout for canaries in coal mines."—Barron's
"Rogoff and Reinhart . . . provide an eye-opening look at the cycles of boom and bust and how governments deal with those cycles."—Arkansas Business
"Having studied mountains of economic data during the past eight centuries, the authors insightfully point out the highly repetitive nature of financial crises resulted from a dangerous mix of hubris, euphoria and amnesia."—Shanghai Daily
"Awesome."—William Easterly, AidWatch
"[T]his is the kind of economics we desperately need, as it is relevant, fact-based and replete with wisdom from the past—and lessons for the future."—Irish Times
"[A] valuable new book."—Idaho Statesman
"This book's distinctive strength is that it's built around a massive international database going back as far as twelfth-century China and medieval Europe."—Harvard Business Review
"Reinhart and Rogoff have compiled an encyclopedic analysis of the history of financial crises over the last 750 years. But their volume is not merely of historical interest. Rather, it has great relevance for anyone interested in understanding how the current financial crisis is likely to unfold."—Choice
"[I]nstant classic tome on debt crises."—Alen Mattich, Dow Jones Newswires
"One book in particular has been circulating among economists and market insiders. This Time is Different analyzes vast amounts of historical data on financial debacles, including state failures around the world, bank crises, currency woes and high inflation. The title satirizes those who fail to learn from past blunders and repeat them while insisting, 'This time is different.'"—Hideo Tsuchiya, Nikkei Weekly
"Anyone looking for a more academic take on where this meltdown places in the history of financial folly should turn to This Time is Different, a magisterial work on the causes and consequences of crises stretching back 800 years."—Matthew Valencia, Economist.com
"Easily the most useful, and arguably the best, is this splendid piece of research and analysis on, as the subtitle says, 800 years' worth of booms and busts."—Bill Emmott, Survival
"[T]he book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to put the recent crisis into some historical perspective—and get some ideas on how to prevent, or at least delay, the next one."—David Orrell, Foresight
"[T]his Time is Different [is a] landmark work on financial crises."—Megan McArdle, TheAtlantic.com
"[This Time is Different] is perhaps the finest study of financial crises ever published."—Ezra Klein, Washington Post
"[S]eminal."—Rana Faroohar and Bill Saporito, Time
"The book by Reinhart and Rogoff is one for the ages, and it will be remembered as a landmark event, not least given the coincidence of its publication of such a deep and broad historical analysis of economic crises with the very moment when the world was entering a massive 'hundred year flood' type of calamity. The authors' empirical work is encyclopedic and much of the data are highly original and the result of intense effort. The necessary theoretical framing is provided, but in terms that all target readers should be able to absorb. The overall view is panoramic and the message carried is an important one for all to hear—policymakers, commentators, and researchers. Crises are still with us, they are very painful indeed, and perhaps it will always be so. It is up to us to figure out why and how crises happen, and to figure out what, if anything, can and should be done to mitigate their devastating effects in future. This book is therefore, above all, a call to action."—Journal of Economic Literature
"Reinhart and Rogoff's book belongs to the tradition of studies that appear in the middle of a crisis but it manages to keep its spine above water because of its historical depth and systematic rigour."—Sakis Gekas, Dublin Review of Books
"‘This time is different’, we insist. Our ancestors thought it. No doubt our progeny will think it. This book will remind us of that danger and, just maybe, will keep us safe for a little bit longer."—Martin Wolf, Financial Times
"The most important authorities probably in the world now on financial crashes are Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart."—Bill Clinton
"An extraordinary piece of work."—Ben Bernanke, Nobel Prize–winning economist and former chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve
"A classic."—Nouriel Roubini
"This Time is Different is terrific, for it gives just the perspective we need on the current world economic crisis. People can't expect to understand the current crisis without some in-depth look at past crises. That is exactly what this excellent and timely book provides."—Robert J. Shiller, Nobel Prize–winning economist and bestselling author of Irrational Exuberance
"This Time Is Different is a tremendously exciting, topical, and controversial book on the history of debt and default. This one belongs on everyone's shelf."—Barry Eichengreen, author of The European Economy since 1945
"This is quite simply the best empirical investigation of financial crises ever published. Covering hundreds of years and bringing together a dizzying array of data, Reinhart and Rogoff have made a truly heroic contribution to financial history. This single marvelous volume is worth a thousand mathematical models."—Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
"You will be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive and insightful analysis of financial crises. Reinhart and Rogoff's superb book is a must-read for anyone looking to understand past and present crises, as well as navigate those of tomorrow."—Mohamed El-Erian, author of When Markets Collide
