Banking on Hope

Followers of the American economist Hyman P. Minsky hold a conference in New York City each year to gauge the progress of financial reforms. Minsky, not a mainstream economist maintained that financial markets are inherently unstable and if left unregulated, will go haywire and implode, wreaking large-scale damage.

Minsky's theory was never more popular in America than just after the financial meltdown of 2008. The subprime crash rocked the world, destroyed US$ 13 trillion of wealth in the U.S. and, according to Asian economist Andrew Sheng, wiped out some US$ 48 trillion in global wealth holdings.