From the Great Depression to the current crisis: more than analogy, genealogy

This paper investigates the ties that link the Great Depression to the current crisis through the channel of liquidity. The main objective is not to compare the conjunctures that make crises happen, but to highlight the structures that make crises possible. Liquidity is shown to be the distinctive feature, the elusiveness of which has made both the strength and the fragility of monetary and financial systems over the past century. The brief conclusion hints at several ways in which international liquidity could be reduced to stem the flux of financial crises.