Wanted: Hard-Luck Stories

October 12, 2009

Edited by Robin Goldwyn Blumenthal, Barron's

Imagine how different the world might have been had a running narrative of the financial crisis by market participants been available as the meltdown was unfolding. That time may be past, but a recently launched website from New York's Museum of American Finance, www.recessipedia.org, seeks to foster understanding of the causes of the crisis, with first-person accounts by ordinary people and professionals. "We haven't done a good job of learning from our mistakes," says David Cowen, the newly named president of the museum...