The Alchemists And A World On Fire Chapter Summary

645 Words3 Pages

The Alchemists – Three Central Bankers and A World on Fire is a book written by Neil Irwin, a senior economic correspondent at New York Times. The book attempts to describe how the financial crisis of 2008 emerged and the manner in which chiefs of three major central bankers of the world – Ben Bernanke of Federal Reserve, Mervyn King of Bank of England and Jean-Claude Trichet of ECB handled it using every tool at their disposal. The book in its initial phase explains the evolvement of central banks and their role in shaping the world economy. Some real insights into world’s oldest central banks with logical analysis show the intense research put in by the author. One of the major aspects of the book is that it dispels the notion that central banks are driven by highly complex technical models or well-planned conspiracies. Monetary policymaking is more complex than doing budget deals or drafting financial regulation, but it is not mechanical though. The author accurately explains that a variety of disparate factors influence the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, and the ECB’s Governing Council. …show more content…

The book in its middle phase well depicts the emergence of crisis in Europe, how it still lurches from one financial debacle to another, with no solution in sight. For better or worse, the European Central Bank’s attempts to rescue governments from debt defaults, imposing pain on Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Critics say the ECB used monetary policy to force fundamental changes; some others say that at least it has the backbone to

Open Document