Global financial crisis and Great Recession

Conditions at the time

Housing-market weakness and uncertainty over securitized-asset losses pressured financial funding and real demand.

How events unfolded

The US recession began in 2007/12, and the contraction intensified sharply in the autumn of 2008 as financial turmoil worsened.

Stakeholders and impacts

Borrowing households, businesses, financial institutions, central banks and governments responded to credit losses and employment shocks.

Information available at the time

Following Lehman’s bankruptcy and support for AIG, the Federal Reserve lowered rates to 0–0.25% by year-end.

Findings confirmed later

The criteria for ending the recession differed from the timing of recovery in financial losses, unemployment and housing prices.

Alternative interpretations and limitations

There is no single end date for the international financial crisis. The displayed range is based on the US Great Recession’s monthly business-cycle dates.

Interpretation using later sources

The U.S. recession ended in 2009/6, but recovery was slow and unemployment burdens persisted. The economic trough marks renewed expansion, not restoration of all earlier output, jobs and household wealth. ASSETCASTING interpretation: Specify what ended when calling a crisis over. Compare market functioning, economic direction and employment levels separately to understand the gap between financial stabilization and recovery in everyday life.

Evidence coverage through 2013-11-22 · Sources checked 2026-10-14

• The Great Recession and Its Aftermath ↗

Related events and periods1

• Trade and credit expansion with accumulating financial imbalances →

  An event or period whose recorded start falls within this editorial interval. This does not establish that it caused or represents the characteristics of the era, nor guarantee that the entire period falls within the interval.