Suchergebnisse
Suchergebnisse:
It was among the five worst financial crises the world had experienced and led to a loss of more than $2 trillion from the global economy. U.S. home mortgage debt relative to GDP increased from an average of 46% during the 1990s to 73% during 2008, reaching $10.5 (~$14.6 trillion in 2023) trillion.
The U.S. Financial Crisis. The financial meltdown that started with the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble had worldwide economic repercussions, including recessions, far-reaching...
- James Mcbride
- Overview
- Causes of the crisis
global economics
Also known as: global financial crisis
Written byBrian Duignan
Brian Duignan
Brian Duignan is a senior editor at Encyclopædia Britannica. His subject areas include philosophy, law, social science, politics, political theory, and religion.
Fact-checked byThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Although the exact causes of the financial crisis are a matter of dispute among economists, there is general agreement regarding the factors that played a role (experts disagree about their relative importance).
First, the Federal Reserve (Fed), the central bank of the United States, having anticipated a mild recession that began in 2001, reduced the federal funds rate (the interest rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans of federal funds—i.e., balances held at a Federal Reserve bank) 11 times between May 2000 and December 2001, from 6.5 percent to 1.75 percent. That significant decrease enabled banks to extend consumer credit at a lower prime rate (the interest rate that banks charge to their “prime,” or low-risk, customers, generally three percentage points above the federal funds rate) and encouraged them to lend even to “subprime,” or high-risk, customers, though at higher interest rates (see subprime lending). Consumers took advantage of the cheap credit to purchase durable goods such as appliances, automobiles, and especially houses. The result was the creation in the late 1990s of a “housing bubble” (a rapid increase in home prices to levels well beyond their fundamental, or intrinsic, value, driven by excessive speculation).
Second, owing to changes in banking laws beginning in the 1980s, banks were able to offer to subprime customers mortgage loans that were structured with balloon payments (unusually large payments that are due at or near the end of a loan period) or adjustable interest rates (rates that remain fixed at relatively low levels for an initial period and float, generally with the federal funds rate, thereafter). As long as home prices continued to increase, subprime borrowers could protect themselves against high mortgage payments by refinancing, borrowing against the increased value of their homes, or selling their homes at a profit and paying off their mortgages. In the case of default, banks could repossess the property and sell it for more than the amount of the original loan. Subprime lending thus represented a lucrative investment for many banks. Accordingly, many banks aggressively marketed subprime loans to customers with poor credit or few assets, knowing that those borrowers could not afford to repay the loans and often misleading them about the risks involved. As a result, the share of subprime mortgages among all home loans increased from about 2.5 percent to nearly 15 percent per year from the late 1990s to 2004–07.
Third, contributing to the growth of subprime lending was the widespread practice of securitization, whereby banks bundled together hundreds or even thousands of subprime mortgages and other, less-risky forms of consumer debt and sold them (or pieces of them) in capital markets as securities (bonds) to other banks and investors, including hedge funds and pension funds. Bonds consisting primarily of mortgages became known as mortgage-backed securities, or MBSs, which entitled their purchasers to a share of the interest and principal payments on the underlying loans. Selling subprime mortgages as MBSs was considered a good way for banks to increase their liquidity and reduce their exposure to risky loans, while purchasing MBSs was viewed as a good way for banks and investors to diversify their portfolios and earn money. As home prices continued their meteoric rise through the early 2000s, MBSs became widely popular, and their prices in capital markets increased accordingly.
Learn about good debt and bad debt.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The United States is now facing the familiar precursors of a recession, including rising interest rates on the back of high inflation. The Federal Reserve is taking action, and its decisions will be critical to the length and severity of any recession.
Die Staatsverschuldung vieler Staaten stieg krisenbedingt stark an, vor allem in den USA. Inhaltsverzeichnis. 1 Allgemeines. 2 Ursachen. 2.1 Preisblase am US-Immobilienmarkt. 2.2 Steigende Einkommensungleichheit. 2.3 Eigenheimförderung durch die Regierung. 2.4 Falsche Kreditbewertungen der Ratingagenturen. 2.5 Schattenbanken.
16. März 2021 · How They Fixed It. The Fed likely saved the nation from a crippling financial crisis that would have only intensified the economic damage the coronavirus went on to inflict. John Taggart for...
4. Dez. 2017 · Here are some of the most important milestones in a Great Recession timeline of the financial crisis—also known as the 2008 recession—which lasted in the United States from mid-2007 to June of...