Christopher Kobrak – författare

One striking weaknesses of our financial architecture, which helped bring on and perhaps deepen the Panic of 2008, is an inadequate appreciation of the past. Information about how the system functioned and the reliability of organizations and institutional controls were drawn from a relatively narrow group of recent examples. History and Financial Crisis: Lessons from the 20th Century is an attempt to broaden the range of historical sources used by policy makers to understand and treat financial crises. Many recent discussions of the 2008 panic and the economic turmoil have found the situation to either be unprecedented or greatly similar to that of 1931. However, the book's wide range of contributors suggest that the economic crisis of 2008 cannot be categorised in this way.This book was originally published as a special issue of Business History.

This book is first and foremost a history of Schering AG, one of Germany's best known pharmaceutical companies, from its birth as a pharmacy in the middle of the nineteenth century to the first steps of its rebirth as a multinational in 1950. The book traces the various stages of Schering's development, its relationships to other chemical companies, its government, its bankers and other shareholders. As the title implies, the book also tries to put this history in the context of Schering's changing - and for the most part increasingly hostile - political, social and economic environment, which formed the context for the company's efforts to organise its personnel, develop its research and production capacity and to internationalise its business. The author argues that the evolution of Germany's system of corporate governance did not keep up with that country's ability to make technical innovations and actually hindered Germany's ability to respond to the business challenges following World War I.

This book is first and foremost a history of Schering AG, one of Germany's best known pharmaceutical companies, from its birth as a pharmacy in the middle of the nineteenth century to the first steps of its rebirth as a multinational in 1950. The book traces the various stages of Schering's development, its relationships to other chemical companies, its government, its bankers and other shareholders. As the title implies, the book also tries to put this history in the context of Schering's changing - and for the most part increasingly hostile - political, social and economic environment, which formed the context for the company's efforts to organise its personnel, develop its research and production capacity and to internationalise its business. The author argues that the evolution of Germany's system of corporate governance did not keep up with that country's ability to make technical innovations and actually hindered Germany's ability to respond to the business challenges following World War I.

Banking on Global Markets uses the story of the US business and political dealings of Germany's largest bank to illuminate developments in the ongoing globalization of major financial institutions. Throughout its nearly 140-year-long history, Deutsche Bank served as one of Germany's principal vehicles for forging links with the rest of the world, and the US market probably remained Deutsche Bank's highest foreign priority and its most frustrating challenge. Banking on Global Markets traces Deutsche Bank's involvement with the United States in the context of a changing national and international regulatory and economic environment. It is the story of how international cooperation furthered and conflict hindered those endeavours, and how international banking evolved from a very personalized business between nations to one dominated by enormous transnational markets. Christopher Kobrak weaves together how these financial, political, and institutional developments have helped shape the emerging new international order.

Banking on Global Markets uses the story of the US business and political dealings of Germany's largest bank to illuminate developments in the ongoing globalization of major financial institutions. Throughout its nearly 140-year-long history, Deutsche Bank served as one of Germany's principal vehicles for forging links with the rest of the world, and the US market probably remained Deutsche Bank's highest foreign priority and its most frustrating challenge. Banking on Global Markets traces Deutsche Bank's involvement with the United States in the context of a changing national and international regulatory and economic environment. It is the story of how international cooperation furthered and conflict hindered those endeavours, and how international banking evolved from a very personalized business between nations to one dominated by enormous transnational markets. Christopher Kobrak weaves together how these financial, political, and institutional developments have helped shape the emerging new international order.

One striking weaknesses of our financial architecture, which helped bring on and perhaps deepen the Panic of 2008, is an inadequate appreciation of the past. Information about how the system functioned and the reliability of organizations and institutional controls were drawn from a relatively narrow group of recent examples. History and Financial Crisis: Lessons from the 20th Century is an attempt to broaden the range of historical sources used by policy makers to understand and treat financial crises. Many recent discussions of the 2008 panic and the economic turmoil have found the situation to either be unprecedented or greatly similar to that of 1931. However, the book's wide range of contributors suggest that the economic crisis of 2008 cannot be categorised in this way.This book was originally published as a special issue of Business History.