Understanding Financial Crises: The Economics, Politics, and Greed of the Most Spectacular Bubbles and Crises of the Past Century explains in clear and intuitive terms how the economic environment changed throughout 10 of the most spectacular financial crises of the past century. On the one hand, it shows that the lack of effective regulation, relevant data, and adequate understanding of the economic environment were among the facilitators of the crises. On the other hand, it highlights the role that ill-incentivized bankers and accountants, biased politicians, euphoric investors, speculators, and corrupt managers played in the evolution of bubbles and crises.The first few chapters offer a brief and informal review of bubbles and key concepts in multinational finance and macroeconomics, making the book accessible to any curious reader. Each of the 10 crises is presented in an informal manner, followed by a discussion of the key roles different players had in creating the crises and in coping with the outcomes. The last chapter summarizes the lessons for a free market economy and proposed remedies for financial crises.Written in a readable style without assuming prior knowledge in economics, Understanding Financial Crises will arm readers with a deeper understanding of the 10 major financial crises and the knowledge necessary for them to become prudent investors.