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What and when will the next financial crisis be? No one knows, but the past provides clues. This course takes students through the history of finance in the United States, with a focus on the last 100 years of financial bubbles, manias, and scandals, from the crash of 1929 to the thrift crisis of the 1980s; Enron and other accounting debacles; and the mortgage meltdown known as the Great Recession. Examining the upheavals is key to understanding how the landscape and laws of modern financial markets evolved and where they might be headed. <br></br> With the Great Recession of 2007–2012, the United States experienced the biggest economic crisis and ensuing downturn since the crash of 1929 and Great Depression of the 1930s. While every boom-and-bust is unique, all share certain characteristics—most notably, the seemingly inexhaustible ability of humans to forget the lessons of financial history. This forgetfulness comes at great expense to society. This course provides a tour of the country’s major boom-and-bust-cycles, with a focus on last century, and particularly the last three decades, when such events became more numerous. After each debacle, laws and rules changed. Executives must know what those changes are and the reasoning behind them, but they also will have a competitive edge in recognizing future crises if they remember and understand the events underpinning those of the past.