Financial crises: It is not different this time

This article discusses the main theoretical characteristics of several types of financial crises. With this objective in mind, it presents a detailed explanation of the functioning of the modern financial system, recent history of macroeconomics, and the conceptual and empirical properties of financial crises. It concludes that a central bank is limited to act against credit bubbles and that current macroeconomic models cannot explain correctly interactions in financial markets. In addition, it deduces the possibility that emerging economies worldwide will experience financial crisis in the coming months.