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The Skyscraper Curse: And How Austrian Economists Predicted Every Major Economic Crisis of the Last Century by [Mark Thornton]

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Mark Thornton

The Skyscraper Curse: And How Austrian Economists Predicted Every Major Economic Crisis of the Last Century Kindle Edition

by Mark Thornton (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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The Skyscraper Curse is Dr. Mark Thornton's definitive work on booms and busts, and it explains why only Austrian economists really understand them. It makes business cycle theory accessible to a whole new 21st-century audience.

And they need it, especially those under 40. Many of the brilliant quants working on Wall Street and at the Fed barely remember the Crash of 2008, much less understand it.

But Mark Thornton does, and his book is a warning about overheated equity markets, over-inflated housing prices, and clueless central bankers. Given the shaky stock markets lately, 2018 may be the year the Fed’s latest bubble bursts. And when it does, it will be even more painful than 10 years ago. In fact, US household and business debt is now one trillion dollars higher than 2008.

Mark is well known as an expert on bubbles and Fed malfeasance. His work appears in outlets like Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, The Economist, Barron’s, and Investor’s Business Daily. His now-infamous Skyscraper Index theory draws the connection between loose monetary policy, artificially low interest rates, and vanity construction projects. Put the three together and it doesn’t turn out well.

And let’s not forget that Dr. Thornton was among only a handful of economists to warn about the dangerous housing bubble in 2004, and again in 2006. Cabbies and waiters bought up condos with no money down in places like Las Vegas. Prices rose 25 percent or more every year in some coastal markets. Even people with terrible credit financed houses at five or seven times their annual income. All of it was made possible by the Fed and its mania for low interest rates.

So when the experts said “Nobody could have seen this coming,” the Mises Institute had Mark’s articles and papers ready to go. The housing crash, and the meltdown in equity markets less than a year later, were thoroughly explained by Austrian business cycle theory. And Mark was the capable face of the Mises Institute during it all.

Without a lay-friendly book like The Skyscraper Curse, millions more Americans will be duped by the next crash.

Dr. Thornton’s book tells the story that needs to be told. It will be among the only alternative explanations available when the next crisis comes.

Print length

280 pages
Language

English
Publication date

July 31, 2018
File size

4607 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07G3HZS24
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ludwig von Mises Institute (July 31, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 31, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4607 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #770,653 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #503 in Economic Theory (Kindle Store)
- #1,685 in Theory of Economics

Customer Reviews:
50 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

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Kindle Customer

I liked this book a lot.

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

The Skyscraper Curse by Mark Thorton is an excellent read. Although Thorton is an expert economist, he writes in a style which is very readable for the layman.
I greatly enjoyed reading this book.
I didn't understand Austrian Economics, but Thorton is such a good writer and teacher that I now have a fundamental grasp of the Austrian School.
It is remarkable that so many depressions have hit soon after a significant skyscraper has opened.
It is a little scary that Donald Trump made his living building skyscrapers and now he is President. Timber! No, I'm not here to bash President Trump.
I also enjoyed the second half of the book which covered the history of recessions and depressions in the USA, and how these financial earthquakes are tied to big Government and the Federal Reserve and Keynesian economics.
Probably the best chapter of the book is the last one--where Mark explains how the United States could become a free market economy with a sound currency, trustworthy banks, and a rising standard of living.
More power to Mark Thornton and Austian Economics.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Tina

A minor, quite obvious thesis.

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

Had I the power of foresight, had I known what I was buying, I would have kept my money in my pocket.

Still: easy read and for those who have no idea of the "malinvestment" at cyclic tops, get it. There is some math addressing return on land at tops where high land cost must be recouped by building (and financing) extra rentable floors. I liked the simplicity of the thesis. So some truth there...

And title says "Prediction" whereas author says: This not a prediction.

Best not buy this book as there are much better ways to use precious reading time. Try Rothbard.

Helpful

Lerey Bishop

Amazing insight into booms and busts in our economy

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book provides a logical explanation of what really is causing the booms and busts in our economy and what can be done about it.
The author has a track record of successfully predicting these cycles and is wonderful about quoting economists from both sides of the argument.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Charlie G

Good take on what happens in a lot of the US economic booms and busts.

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a very good review of the effect of the Federal Reserve on the US business cycle and income inequality. It reads better if you know some on economics and Fed policy, but you don't have to know too much. The author's position is very anti-Fed but it's not from the weird conspiracist crowd. The history and effect is hard to ignore once you read it. While a little repetitive, it reads fast. But it's also one of those book that if you don't like the first few chapters you won't like the rest.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Alexander

Greate book, deep and fresh

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

Mises Institute rules. The logic is simple: economic boom=low interest rates->people have a lot of money->land is expensive->people build skyscrapers->boom ends (it will happen)->bust begins. The conclusion: the development of skyscrapers is a sign of an imminent bust.
I am inspired to write a book "The t-shirt curse". The logic is simple: summer->hot->people wear t-shirts->the summer ends->the fall begins->cold->people wear sweaters. So t-shirts on the streets is a sign of the imminent fall.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

caleb

Not what was expected

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

Originally I bought this book to learn a bit more of Austrian economics, but not much of Austrian economics was written about. Instead the author writes about how he was right and all these other magazines and authors were wrong. Yes, he does mention the basics of the skyscraper curse and talk about artificially low interest rates, but the book was more written as a victory lap for the author about how he's always right. Mark Thornton seems like a good economist, but fell a bit short in writing a good book this time around.

One person found this helpful

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Andre Trotta

Great Index

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

Its an excellent book about how the monetary inflation and credit expansion leads to a disorder in the production structure, and results in a deviation of capital goods from the most urgent utilities to the less urgent ones, like skyscrapers. It explains how this process occurs, and relates to historical correlations with the business cycles and the turn points toward the recessions.

One person found this helpful

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Bobby33x

Skyscraper caper

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

Interesting observations on how building the tallest skyscrapers can be predictive of an economic bubble about to burst.
The artificial holding down of interest rates, like heroine, can leave you feeling good initially but in both cases the aftermath is brutal. Great read, well footnoted!

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Prof. Dr. Holger Schiele

Thought provoking attempt to explain anecdodal observations

Reviewed in Germany on December 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

The book consists of two books, actually. The first part being about Austrian business cycle theory, exemplified with real estate markets. Actually, according to the skyscaper curse a crash lies ahead...

The second part consists of a collection of articles the author had previously prepared. Hence, a few repetitions occur. Further, I miss an a little bit more thorough and critical theory chapter.

All together an interesting and thought provoking book, being one of the few non technical books on Austrian theory, even more shading light on the interesting case of the skyscrapers.

P.S.: As next book by the author an application of Austrian cycle theory to Europe could be interesting. The low interest policy of the ECB according to Austrian theory could be the case of artificially created business cycles!