Charles Kindleberger Quotes

“A follow-the-leader process develops as firms and households see that others are profiting from speculative purchases.”

“Catastrophe mathematics, dealing with such events as falling off a height, is a new branch of the discipline, I am told, which has yet to demonstrate its rigor or usefulness. I had better wait.”

“Econometricians among my friends tell me that rare events such as panics cannot be dealt with by the normal techniques of regression, but have to be introduced exogenously as 'dummy variables'.”

“It happens that crashes and panics often are precipitated by the revelation of some misfeasance, malfeasance, or malversation (the corruption of officials) engendered during the mania.

It seems clear from the historical record that swindles are a response to the greedy appetite for wealth stimulated by the boom.

And as the monetary system gets stretched, institutions lose liquidity, and unsuccessful swindles are about to be revealed, the temptation to take the money and run becomes virtually irresistible.

It is difficult to write on this subject without permitting the typewriter to drip with irony. An attempt will be made.”

“Money is a public good; as such, it lends itself to private exploitation.”

“The monetary history of the last four hundred years has been replete with financial crises.

The pattern was that investor optimism increased as economies expanded, the rate of growth of credit increased and economic growth accelerated, and an increasing number of individuals began to invest for short-term capital gains rather than for the returns associated with the productivity of the assets they were acquiring.

The increase in the supply of credit and more buoyant economic outlook often led to economic booms as investment spending increased in response to the more optimistic outlook and the greater availability of credit, and as household spending increased as personal wealth surged.”

“There is nothing as disturbing to one’s well-being and judgment as to see a friend get rich.”