Postscript

Quite possibly, anyone who has this book will have found the following question unavoidable: Are there similarities to be found with certain current developments? I personally believe that history cannot dispense lessons to be learned. Any particular set of events has its own motivations rooted in its own time and place, of which we shall never see a replica. In particular, to infer conclusions from circumstances, similar to the present, which occurred in the past, is disingenuous at best and intellectually dishonest at worst. This is all the more true if we try to predict future economic developments from seemingly analogous past experiences. Historians are second only to economists in making wrong forecasts. With this caveat, it is nevertheless valid to wonder whether some similarity with those past experiences may contribute to a better understanding of current circumstances.