A Series of Unfortunate Events: Common Sequencing Patterns in Financial Crises

Carmen Reinhart

No 8742, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We document that the global scope and depth of the crisis the began with the collapse of the subprime mortgage market in the summer of 2007 is unprecedented in the post World War II era and, as such, the most relevant comparison benchmark is the Great Depression (or the Great Contraction, as dubbed by Friedman and Schwartz, 1963) of the 1930s. Some of the similarities between these two global episodes are examined but the analysis of the aftermath of severe financial crises is extended to also include the most severe post-WWII crises as well. As to the causes of these great crises, we focus on those factors that are common across time and geography. We discriminate between root causes of the crises, recurring crises symptoms, and common features (such as misguided financial regulation or inadequate supervision) which serve as amplifiers of the boom-bust cycle. There are recurring temporal patterns in the boom-bust cycle and their broad sequencing is analyzed.

Keywords: Debt; Default; Financial crises; Financial repression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E6 F3 N0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-his and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP8742 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Common Sequencing Patterns in Financial Crises (2012)
Journal Article: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Common Sequencing Patterns in Financial Crises (2011)
Journal Article: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Common Sequencing Patterns in Financial Crises (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8742

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP8742

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().