It is argued that productivity gains should be maintained during times of severe financial and economic crises so that the economy gets back on track and does not get trapped in a state of underperformance. Innovation is an important factor in productivity improvement. We use historical patent data going back to 1883 and standard economic indicators to investigate the impact of major crises on innovation. Data are drawn from the World Intellectual Property Organization on patents in the United States and patents are used as a proxy for innovation. We find that crisis spur innovation with the effect being noticeable for up to three years after the crisis. As a by-product of our analysis we provide empirical evidence that innovation has a positive effect on growth.

The recent financial and economic crisis has spurred a lot of interest among scholars and public audience. Strangely enough, the impact of the crisis on innovation has been largely underestimated. This books can be regarded as a complementary reading for those interested in the effect of the crisis with a particular focus on Europe.

With contributions from world-renowned figures such as Niall Ferguson and Adair Turner, this volume investigates how financial institutions and markets have undergone or reacted to past pressures, and the regulatory responses that emerged as a result.

This paper reviews the literature on financial crises focusing on three specific aspects. First, what are the main factors explaining financial crises? Since many theories on the sources of financial crises highlight the importance of sharp fluctuations in asset and credit markets, the paper briefly reviews theoretical and empirical studies on developments in these markets around financial crises. Second, what are the major types of financial crises? The paper focuses on the main theoretical and empirical explanations of four types of financial crises—currency crises, sudden stops, debt crises, and banking crises—and presents a survey of the literature that attempts to identify these episodes. Third, what are the real and financial sector implications of crises? The paper briefly reviews the short- and medium-run implications of crises for the real economy and financial sector. It concludes with a summary of the main lessons from the literature and future research directions.

This book examines the link between innovation and economic crises through a systemic philosophy of economic history. Taking the end of the Roman Empire as its starting point, the author guides readers through six economic crises that have occurred up to the present day and uncovers how these may have been triggered by a number of political, economic and technological innovations. The author presents analyses on the Dutch tulip bubble of 1637, the Mississippi bubble in eighteenth-century France, the development of the first limited liability company and the world’s first stock exchange before going on to discuss the latest economic crisis and its links with globalisation and social connectivity following the technological advancement of the internet. The author concludes by explaining how we can use knowledge of the links between innovation and crises to frame a vital new model for policy makers and political leaders. The result is a fascinating insight into the cause of economic crises which will be of particular interest to students and researchers of economic history, financial crises, innovation and political science.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

What effect did the Great Recession have on innovation efficiency and the effectiveness of scarce resource management? Did countries with high GDPs and GDPs per capita sustain efficient innovation? How did the recession affect the time lag between innovation development and implementation? This book presents the most comprehensive data set in current economic literature to measure and compare the effect of GDP and GDP per capita on the efficiency of fifty-eight countries' national innovation systems during the Great Recession. A total of eighteen different models are applied to different groupings of the data, including data envelopment analyses and time lag effects. The result is a rich comparative resource for policy makers and economists alike.