Cracks in the System: Repairing the Damaged Global Economy
IMF Finance & Development: Cracks in the System: Repairing the Damaged Global Economy
Author/Editor: Blanchard, Olivier
Summary: The global economy is facing its worst crisis in 60 years. In the first half of the 2000s, a benign environment led investors, firms, and consumers to expect a permanently bright future and to underestimate risk. Housing and other asset prices shot up, risky assets were created and sold as being nearly riskless, and leverage increased. So when housing prices turned around, and subprime mortgages and the securities based on them turned sour, the stage was set for the crisis. In the context of rapid global integration and deep and complex interconnections between financial institutions, the crisis quickly moved across assets, markets, and economies. The rest is history, or, more precisely, history in the making.
Full Text
Author/Editor: Blanchard, Olivier
Summary: The global economy is facing its worst crisis in 60 years. In the first half of the 2000s, a benign environment led investors, firms, and consumers to expect a permanently bright future and to underestimate risk. Housing and other asset prices shot up, risky assets were created and sold as being nearly riskless, and leverage increased. So when housing prices turned around, and subprime mortgages and the securities based on them turned sour, the stage was set for the crisis. In the context of rapid global integration and deep and complex interconnections between financial institutions, the crisis quickly moved across assets, markets, and economies. The rest is history, or, more precisely, history in the making.
Full Text
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