Includes bibliographical references (pages [409]-433) and indexes.

Preamble : some initial intuitions on financial fragility and the fickle nature of confidence -- pt. 1. Financial crises : an operational primer -- Varieties of crises and their dates -- Debt intolerance : the genesis of serial default -- A global database on financial crises -- pt. 2. Sovereign external debt crises -- A digression on the theoretical underpinnings of debt crises -- Cycles of sovereign default on external debt -- External default through history -- pt. 3. The forgotten history of domestic debt and default -- The stylized facts of domestic debt and default -- Domestic debt : the missing link explaining external default and high inflation -- Domestic and external default : which is worse? Who is senior? -- pt. 4. Banking crises, inflation, and currency crashes -- Banking crises -- Default through debasement : an "old world favorite" -- Inflation and modern currency crashes -- pt. 5. The U.S. subprime meltdown and the second great contraction -- The U.S. subprime crisis : an international and historical comparison -- The aftermath of financial crises -- The international dimensions of the subprime crisis : the results of contagion or common fundamentals? -- Composite measures of financial turmoil -- pt. 6. What have we learned? -- Reflections on early warnings, graduation, policy responses, and the foibles of human nature -- Data appendixes -- A. 1. Macroeconomic time series -- A. 2. Public debt -- A. 3. Dates of banking crises -- A. 4. Historical summaries of banking crises.

An empirical investigation of financial crises during the last 800 years.

Winner of the 2010 TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award.