The Kondratiev Cycle: a Generational Interpretation

Michael Alexander extends his analysis of cycles in the stock market to the last seven centuries of Western social, political and economic history. Alexander presents a series of conceptual models for the Kondratiev economic cycle over time and shows how they describe the interaction between economic, social and political cycles. Emphasis is placed on careful empirical demonstration of the reality of these cycles. Alexander then weaves these cycles together showing that they are deeply related to yet another cycle, the generational cycle identified by William Strauss and Neil Howe. This synthesis is used to project political and economic trends over the next twenty years.