The Panic of 1907

Lessons Learned from the Market's Perfect Storm

Robert F. Bruner, Sean D. Carr

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780470452585, 9780470152638
• eBook ISBN: 9780470445174
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Finance
• Index: Business

"Before reading The Panic of 1907, the year 1907 seemed like a long time ago and a different world. The authors, however, bring this story alive in a fast-moving book, and the reader sees how events of that time are very relevant for today's financial world. In spite of all of our advances, including a stronger monetary system and modern tools for managing risk, Bruner and Carr help us understand that we are not immune to a future crisis."
—Dwight B. Crane, Baker Foundation Professor, Harvard Business School

"Bruner and Carr provide a thorough, masterly, and highly readable account of the 1907 crisis and its management by the great private banker J. P. Morgan. Congress heeded the lessons of 1907, launching the Federal Reserve System in 1913 to prevent banking panics and foster financial stability. We still have financial problems. But because of 1907 and Morgan, a century later we have a respected central bank as well as greater confidence in our money and our banks than our great-grandparents had in theirs."
—Richard Sylla, Henry Kaufman Professor of the History of Financial Institutions and Markets, and Professor of Economics, Stern School of Business, New York University

"A fascinating portrayal of the events and personalities of the crisis and panic of 1907. Lessons learned and parallels to the present have great relevance. Crises and panics are as much a part of our future as our past."
—John Strangfeld, Vice Chairman, Prudential Financial

"Who would have thought that a hundred years after the Panic of 1907 so much remained to be written about it? Bruner and Carr break significant new ground because they are willing to do the heavy lifting of combing through massive archival material to identify and weave together important facts. Their book will be of interest not only to banking theorists and financial historians, but also to business school and economics students, for its rare ability to teach so clearly why and how a panic unfolds."
—Charles Calomiris, Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions, Columbia University, Graduate School of Business

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 - Wall Street Oligarchs
• Chapter 2 - A Shock to the System
• Chapter 3 - The “Silent” Crash
• Chapter 4 - Credit Anorexia
• Chapter 5 - Copper King
• Chapter 6 - The Corner and the Squeeze
• Chapter 7 - Falling Dominoes
• Chapter 8 - Clearing House
• Chapter 9 - Knickerbocker
• Chapter 10 - A Vote of No Confidence
• Chapter 11 - A Classic Run
• Chapter 12 - Such Assistance as May Be Necessary
• Chapter 13 - Trust Company of America
• Chapter 14 - Crisis on the Exchange
• Chapter 15 - A City in Trouble
• Chapter 16 - A Delirium of Excitement
• Chapter 17 - Modern Medici
• Chapter 18 - Instant and Far-Reaching Relief
• Chapter 19 - Turning the Corner
• Chapter 20 - Ripple Effects
• Lessons - Financial Crises as a Perfect Storm
• APPENDIX A - Key Figures after the Panic
• APPENDIX B - Definitions
• References
• Notes
• About the Authors
• Photo Insert
• Index