Great Recession

The Great Recession was a severe global economic downturn that lasted roughly from 2007 to 2009 and was the worst since the Great Depression. It began with the collapse of the American housing bubble and a crisis in mortgage-backed securities, which exposed weaknesses across the financial system. The failure of the investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008 triggered panic in credit markets, and governments and central banks responded with bank rescues, interest rate cuts and stimulus spending. Output fell and unemployment rose sharply in many countries, particularly in the United States and Europe. The recovery was slow, and the crisis fed into the European sovereign debt crisis and led to new financial regulation, including the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States.

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