If the financial system has a defect, it is that it reflects and magnifies what we human beings are like. Money amplifies our tendency to overreact, to swing from exuberance when things are going well to deep depression when they go wrong. Booms and busts are products, at root, of our emotional volatility.
Niall FergusonSo much of liberalism in its classical sense is taken for granted in the west today and even disrespected. We take freedom for granted, and because of this we don't understand how incredibly vulnerable it is.
Niall FergusonWhy did the Germans and Japanese keep fighting after 1943 when every rational hope of victory had disappeared?
Niall FergusonWhen bond prices fall, interest rates soar, with painful consequences for all borrowers.
Niall Ferguson