Hyman Minsky laboured in relative obscurity from the start of his academic career in the 1950s until 1996, when he died.1 His research about financial crises and their causes attracted little mainstream attention back then.
It was only in 2007 when the subprimemortgage crisis erupted, that everyone started turning to his writings as they tried to make sense of the chaos engulfing global financial markets. The eruption of a financial crisis from a state of dormancy or calm is now often referred to as the “Minsky” moment.