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The Volatility Machine

Michael Pettis

Recommended by 1 person on the record.

The bar next to each date shows how long ago it was said: 7d is days, 4yr is years.

Brad Setser recommends it
Um uh it's called The Volatility Machine by Michael Pettis. It is It is a thin book. It is not an easy read. Uh it is actually not even about China, even though Pettis is now very well known for his work on China. It's about how to think about financial vulnerabilities in the global economy and in emerging economies in particular. I think [snorts] it's a modern classic.

on a podcast · 21 Aug 2026 · Report

This book on rcmnd →

That little bar

It says how long ago something was said, so you can tell last month from 2014 without doing the arithmetic. Full and green is recent; it drains and cools as the date gets older, and empties completely at about 6 years.

A striped bar means the date itself is an estimate — the source did not carry an exact one. An entry with no date at all gets no bar.