El Valor de Actuar: Memoria de Una Crisis Y Sus Secuelas / The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath [Spanish]

Un testimonio excepcional de la lucha por mantener a flote la econom a mundial durante la gran recesi n.

En 2006, Ben S. Bernanke fue nombrado presidente de la Reserva Federal de Estados Unidos, el inesperado colof n de un viaje personal que hab a tenido como punto de partida un peque o pueblo de Carolina del Sur, vivi un interludio sembrado de prestigiosos cargos acad micos y parec a haber culminado con varios a os de servicio en los pasillos del poder en Washington.

No hubo demasiado tiempo para celebraciones. En 2007 estall la burbuja inmobiliaria, dejando al descubierto las vulnerabilidades escondidas del sistema financiero global y llev ndolo al borde de la cat strofe. Bernanke y su equipo de la Reserva Federal tuvieron que enfrentarse a la implosi n del banco de inversiones Bear Sterns, al rescate financiero del gigante de los seguros AIG y al consiguiente contagio financiero.

Como responsable del banco central estadounidense, Bernanke convivi con dos presidentes del Gobierno distintos, trabaj entre el fuego cruzado de un Congreso a la contra y aguant la presi n de una opini n p blica indignada por el comportamiento de Wall Street. Al cabo, el organismo que presid a, codo a codo con el departamento del Tesoro, consigui estabilizar el titubeante sistema financiero, evitando un derrumbe de inimaginable escala.

Un retrato escrito desde dentro, de la forma en que la pol tica americana y, por contagio, la mundial encararon la mayor crisis desde la Gran Depresi n.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

An exceptional testament to the struggle to keep the world economy afloat during the Great Recession.

In 2006, Ben S. Bernanke was named chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the unexpected culmination of a personal trip that had started in a small town in South Carolina, experienced an interlude strewn with prestigious academic positions and seemed to have culminated in several years of service in the corridors of power in Washington.

There was not much time for celebrations. In 2007, the housing bubble burst, exposing the hidden vulnerabilities of the global financial system and bringing it to the brink of catastrophe. Bernanke and his team at the Federal Reserve had to contend with the implosion of the investment bank Bear Sterns, the bailout of the insurance giant AIG, and the ensuing financial contagion.

As head of the US central bank, Bernanke lived with two different presidents of the government, worked in the crossfire of a Congress against it and withstood the pressure of public opinion outraged by Wall Street's behaviour. In the end, the agency he presided, side by side with the Treasury Department, managed to stabilize the faltering financial system, avoiding a collapse of unimaginable scale.

A portrait, written from the inside, of the way in which American and, by contagion, world politics faced the greatest crisis since the Great Depression.