8  David T. Hamilton, Praveen Varma, Sharon Ou and Richard Cantor (2006), ‘Default and Recovery Rates of Corporate Bond Issuers, 1920-2005’, Moody’s Investors Service. 9  Is the world a more risky place today than it was 50 or 60 years ago? I am not sure that it is.
We can point to the threat of terrorism, the impact of globalisation on various business models, avian flu and so on. But without wishing to downplay the importance of those factors, the earlier era included World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the broader cold war with its threat of nuclear conflict, and intense political uncertainty and risk in various countries.