Iran War Fuels Fears Over Global Economic Safety Net

The economist Carmen Reinhart has made a career out of studying the causes of economic crises and the responses to them. Her most famous book, published in 2009 with co-author Ken Rogoff, dove into what they called “eight centuries of financial folly” across 66 countries and five continents and identified predictable patterns. Its title – This Time is Different – mocked the speculators, politicians and pundits pushing the idea that any moment in history can defy economic gravity.

So it’s worth paying attention when Reinhart says she’s worried that the world today is the least prepared it’s been in decades to respond to a meltdown. Almost two decades and a pandemic on from the 2007-08 global financial crisis, the capacity to combat an economic downturn has been steadily eroded, the Harvard Kennedy School economist argues, even as the global economy has grown more fragile.