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As late as the mid 1980s, Iceland’s economy revolved around little else than a semi-robust cod-fishing industry. By the end of the century, however, it had transformed itself into a major player in world finance, building an international banking empire worth twelve times its GDP. The tiny island nation of 300,000 was one of the global economy’s great success stories.
And then everything came crashing down.
Why Iceland? is the inside account of one of the economic meltdown’s most fascinating and far-reaching tragedies. As Chief Economist of Kaupthing Bank, the country’s largest bank before the collapse, Ásgeir Jónsson is perfectly suited to examine Iceland’s collapse in painstaking detail. He witnessed behind-the-scenes events firsthand, such as an intriguing meeting in January 2008 when a group of international hedge fund managers gathered in a bar in Reykjavik to discuss Iceland’s economy—an informal affair that eventually became the center of a criminal investigation by the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority.
This inside account examines the pressing issues behind history’s biggest banking collapse:
- How did Iceland transform itself from one of Europe’s poorest to one of its wealthiest countries?
- What happened to cause the destruction of the nation’s banking industry during a single week of October 2008?
- Was it the result of a speculation “attack” by hedge funds on the nation’s currency?
Iceland remains the biggest casualty of the economic downturn, and the ramifications of its catastrophic failure reach deeply into the economies of Europe, the United States, and other global markets. Ásgeir Jónsson offers a unique perspective and an expert’s insight into the rise and fall of this once-proud banking giant.
Why Iceland? provides the who, what, where, and when of Iceland’s demise, serving as a fascinating read and providing the understanding necessary for forecasting when and where the aftershocks will shake up markets in other parts of the world.
"Fearsome Vikings discovered Iceland. Hedge funds knocked it down. It was a humiliating tumble for the former financial powerhouse, which was proud of its status in Europe. A late bloomer, Iceland had been the last country in Europe to be settled, the Nordic nation rapidly caught up with its wealthier relations. It was all fine until October 2008, when country's banking system collapsed in a week. Written by an Icelandic economist, Why Iceland? chronicles the meltdown, in the context of the nation's history."--New York Post (A "Required Reading" Selection) (20090816)
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Nowehere is the alleged share ramping that kaupthing went in for discussed, nowhere the nepotistic manner in which the Icelandic banks were privatisied discussed.
These were badly run banks, wirth people who were way out of their depth and this book attempts, very unconvincingly to suggest otherwise. It's worth the resad simply for the incredulity it spreads around!!
Overall I found this book to be a pleasant read; the book was surprisingly easy to read the author being an economist, it gives you a clear view of the big picture and to some extent there is some Michael Lewis juice in the latter halve of the book. The author sets the stage early on so the reader is able to get a glimpse into the Icelandic mindset, where they come from and how there international expansion began. This book is however not the definite book about the Icelandic crisis, naturally we'll have to wait some years until that book will appear since there must be a lot of relevant information to surface in the future. However having said that I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Icelandic boom-bust saga or those that are interested booms-busts in general.
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