Do we have the capability to eliminate booms and busts in economic activity? The answer in my judgment is no, because there is no tool to change human nature. Too often people are prone to recurring bouts of optimism and pessimism.
October 14, 2021
Fortunately, it is rare to see anguish on someone’s face. One day in New York, near the end of 1987, I did. The October crash was still vivid in everyone’s mind. As I opened the door of an “upstairs” trading room, I saw a friend at the far end of the long trading desk. He was standing with a phone pressed up against his head gesturing...