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Hyman Minsky : A Relatively Unknown Economist

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Hyman Minsky was a relatively unknown economist. I only heard of Minsky because of the “Masters in Business” podcast by Barry Ritholtz and reading The Economist. However, I found his “financial-instability hypothesis” to be fascinating. Minsky was not some child prodigy growing up, unlike some of the historical figures we meet this semester. Instead he had humble beginnings, Minsky was born in Chicago in 1919. He is by all means a contemporary economist. Minsky received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago and he went on to receive his P.H.D in economics from Harvard. Minsky would go on to teach at Brown University, UC Berkley, and Washington University.
Minsky wrote several books, he wrote one on John …show more content…

The only saving grace for this type of financing is the appreciation in value of the underlying asset, in this case the firm’s capital.
In times of strong economic growth these methods aren’t terrible. If GDP is growing and wages are growing people will simply consume more and this increased consumption will allow a firm to reasonably pay off its debt. However, when growth slows down and people begin to pay off their own debt and possibly save more is when the carousel stops for firms who have a lot of debt. When an economy is growing, there will be more liquidity in the system. This typically means that firms and individuals will have easier access to get loans and the vetting process for loans becomes a lot strenuous. Firms and individuals who have a lot of debt are much more sensitive to shocks in the economy. Economic booms do not last forever, most individuals will soon forget the lean times after years of prosperity, but once the wheels come off things tend to collapse every quickly. Actually, “A Minsky Moment” was coined by Paul McCulley of PIMCO, one of the world’s largest bond funds, after the Russian debt crisis of the late 1990s. Once debt reaches an unsustainable level the value of assets will begin to fall across the board. Firms will now have to pay their loans back. However, as previously mentioned at this point their operating cash flow will not be able to cover anything. They will now have to sell

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