My interest in business cycles was rekindled by Professor Jim Ford, my mentor during the first part of my career at the University of Birmingham. Since completing my PhD on business cycles in 1983, my lecturing and research had focussed on money, banking and finance. Jim introduced me to Shackle’s much neglected work on business cycles, which is discussed in Chapter 4 and emphasises the key role bank lending decisions play in the propogation of business cycles. The 2007-9 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was a clear demonstration of the role of bank lending in the propogation of financial crises and business cycles and a reminder.
