Global Financial Crisis · 2007–2009
In 2008, a US mortgage problem brought the global financial system to its knees. Here is what happened, why it spread, and what governments did to stop it getting worse.
What went wrong
This did not come out of nowhere. A decade of bad lending decisions, poorly understood financial products, and almost no regulation left the entire system exposed when things went wrong.
Chronology
Click any event to expand it. Scroll right to follow the full timeline.
Policy Responses
Both governments threw a lot at this. Pick a country to see what they actually did, then filter by policy type or hit Compare to see both side by side.
Evaluation
GFC to COVID-19
When COVID hit in 2020, governments did not have to guess what to do. The 2008 crisis had already written the playbook. Here is how the lessons carried across.
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