Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha (TMR Media Sdn Bhd, 2019)
In a book aptly titled 'This Time Is Different', Rogoff and Reinhart, two prominent economists, show that every single financial crisis over the last 800 years has had a single root cause - excessive debt. It appears that what begins as borrowing for the funding of development infrastructure can, as it builds, lead to a spiralling of debt and financial crisis. There is a circular and reciprocal relationship between debt, leverage, vulnerability and financial distress. This applies to all borrowers, governments, corporations or other entities.
