Niall Ferguson: four reasons to worry

Professor Niall Ferguson of Harvard University reckons there are a lot of similarities between now and the days before the last financial crisis.

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(Image credit: 2017 Pier Marco Tacca)

Professor Niall Ferguson of Harvard University says he "was all but pelted with bread rolls" in 2006 for warning that the world could end up like Japan: "fending off deflation with monetary and fiscal expedients" amid stagnating growth. And given that he was right about the last crisis, it bodes ill that he now reckons "there is a lot about the present time that is reminiscent of those pre-crisis days". Every asset class has soared. In most housing markets, inflation-adjusted home prices are above their pre-crisis highs. Meanwhile, shares in Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google are up between 30% and 60%; bitcoin has risen sevenfold in 2017.

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