Introduction: Only Yesterday -- 1. Persistent Stagnation, 1973-93 -- 2. American Economic Revival -- 3. Japan and Germany, 1980-95 -- 4. Turning Point: The Reverse Plaza Accord -- 5. The Onset of the Bubble -- 6. A Chain Reaction of Crisis -- 7. Federal Reserve to the Rescue -- 8. The Wealth Effect and Its Limits -- 9. The Contours and Character of the US Boom -- 10. From the End of the Bubble to the End of the Boom -- 11. Prospects: 'It Can't Happen Here' -- App. I. Profit Rates and Productivity Growth: Definitions and Sources