...2008 FINANCIAL CRISIS Name Course Date 1. Background The financial crisis commenced in August 2007 after the preceding inflation. The crisis became more defined throughout 2007 and gained momentum in 2008. This took place even after the financial regulators and the central banks’ tireless attempts to tame the situation. It is alleged that the main factors that influenced its manifestation include corruption, fraud, speculation, greed, bankers and bankers’ bonuses. However, the academic discourse, politics or media has been unable to solve the mystery surrounding the main causes of the crisis[1]. The mystery is academically relevant to the world of research just like the Great Depression, whose causes are still being discussed. Other sources believe that the crisis might have been as a cause of human failures especially following the refusal to bail out the Investment Bank Lehman Brothers. The housing bubble was the immediate trigger of the 2008 financial crisis. The following were the triggers under the housing bubble. I. Subprime lending A subprime mortgage is the mortgage that is readily acceptable without imposing strict measures of standard on it. Before the 2008 financial crisis, there existed a fierce competition between mortgage lenders. The competition between the mortgage lenders ensued from the struggle for market share and revenue. It also took place in tandem with limited supply of creditworthy borrowers which put unconditional stress...
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...2008 FINANCIAL CRISIS Name Course Date 1. Background The financial crisis commenced in August 2007 after the preceding inflation. The crisis became more defined throughout 2007 and gained momentum in 2008. This took place even after the financial regulators and the central banks’ tireless attempts to tame the situation. It is alleged that the main factors that influenced its manifestation include corruption, fraud, speculation, greed, bankers and bankers’ bonuses. However, the academic discourse, politics or media has been unable to solve the mystery surrounding the main causes of the crisis[1]. The mystery is academically relevant to the world of research just like the Great Depression, whose causes are still being discussed. Other sources believe that the crisis might have been as a cause of human failures especially following the refusal to bail out the Investment Bank Lehman Brothers. The housing bubble was the immediate trigger of the 2008 financial crisis. The following were the triggers under the housing bubble. I. Subprime lending A subprime mortgage is the mortgage that is readily acceptable without imposing strict measures of standard on it. Before the 2008 financial crisis, there existed a fierce competition between mortgage lenders. The competition between the mortgage lenders ensued from the struggle for market share and revenue. It also took place in tandem with limited supply of creditworthy borrowers which put unconditional stress...
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...world-widely is known as global financial crisis (BusinessDictionary, 2015). It occurs when there is an increase in asymmetric information coming from disruptions in financial system that is interrupting the funds from channelling efficiently between savers and households as well as preventing firms from having productive investment opportunities (Mishkin and Eakins, 2012, pp. 204). The recent global financial crisis began in the year of 2007 and the intensity increased in the subsequent year. Global financial crisis in 2007 happened as result of a number of factors such as government mandated subprime lending, imprudent mortgage lending, housing bubble, securitization and a few other more factors, which will be discussed. Causes The government mandated subprime lending has contributed to the financial crisis by promoting affordable housing under Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Through affordable housing, banks were encouraged to participate in imprudent mortgage lending as mandated by the federal in order to help low-income borrowers, which imprudent mortgage lending is another cause that contributed to the global financial crisis (Jickling, 2009). As a result of mortgage lending, low-income families are able to purchase houses that they are not be able to afford to purchase without the policy. The loans require low or no down payments and limited documentation of income are to be produced (Wallison and Pinto, 2009). Due to limited documentation...
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...economic crisis that struck the world between 2008 to 2009 had such resounding adverse impacts that brought even the mightiest economies to its knees. Even at present, the far-reaching effects of the crisis remain almost palpable and may be seen in high unemployment rates, economies still in recession and seemingly insurmountable national deficits. The United States, where the crisis had its beginnings continues to suffer from the recession even if it is gradually recovering. The present problems in the Euro zone may be partly attributed to the recession of 2008. Because of these, many scholars, economic analysts, researchers and businessmen continue to endeavor up to now to discern what the real cause of the economic crisis was in the hopes that it will not happen again. Many people attribute the global economic meltdown to the collapse of the subprime sector in the United States. To put it simply, the mortgage sector was blamed for the crisis because of how many financial instruments were collateralized by mortgages of people who had bad credit histories. When too many of them failed to meet their obligations, it began a series of defaults that ultimately collapsed not only the mortgage industry but the financial industry as well. All those that have investments in both sectors, local and foreign entities, also became affected as they lost what they have invested. However, a crisis of such scale as that which took place in 2008 to 2009 could not be attributed to one cause alone...
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...Introduction With the Global Financial Crisis came the search for answers as to what led to the meltdown in the United States mortgage market and ultimately the rest of the world economy. Speculation was rife that accounting standards, in particular, fair value accounting was the prime reason for this significant meltdown. “This sparked a fierce debate with some experts believing that fair value accounting was primary cause of the crisis whilst others considered that it exacerbated it. On the other side of the debate were those commentators that believed that fair value accounting was successful in acting as an early warning system and effectively prevented more calamitous consequences.” (Pabuccu, 2011) In response to this speculation, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) immediately took action to review this matter and implement the necessary changes to address the uncertainty surrounding Fair Value accounting. Body Due to the economic significance of the crisis, financial commentators around the world analysed the situation, made comment, pointed the finger; and laid blame for this event. Due to the speculation, a ferocious debate commenced, with many of them believing that fair-value accounting was the primary cause of this event. Bubbles and Busts have occurred throughout history and are closely linked to the periods preceding a financial crisis. According to McMahon (2011), “fair-value accounting...
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...Banking Academy | City University of Seattle | CORPORATE FINANCE THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008 Group’s member:Nguyễn Như Nam (C)Phan Thu AnNguyễn Thùy DungHoàng Bá SơnNgô Thị Ánh TuyếtDate: 28/11/2014 | AbstractIn 2008 the world was fell into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929-1933. Although this crisis has gone, however, its consequences for the economy of many countries is very serious, even now many nations are still struggling to escape difficulty. Just in a short period, the crisis originating from America has spread to all continents. It led to a series of serious consequences such as the falling in stock markets, increasing in unemployment rates, large financial institutions had been collapsed or bought out, and governments in many strong countries had to come up with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems. So why does it have tremendous destructive power? What are its causes and its development? What are the consequence it bring to the world? And what are the lessons drawn from this terrible event? Derived from these questions above, this paper will generalize about the global financial crisis 2008. | Table of Contents Abstract i 1. Background 1 2. Reasons 2 2.1 The housing bubble 2 2.2 Fed had lower interest rates for a long time. 2 2.3 The subprime boom 3 2.4 Securitization (MBS, CDO) and Credit default swaps (CDSs) 3 2.5 The credit rating companies. 5 2.6 Structured investment vehicle...
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...Introduction: This paper reviews macroeconomic causes of financial crisis in 2008. The economist had difficulty for seeing the systematic risk because of the unregulated new financial instruments such as credit default swap and derivatives securities. The Federal Reserve Bank was responsible for the financial crisis due to large amount of money flow in the United States. Thus, US needed to implement the monetary policy in order to overcome from the financial crisis. This paper drafted the causes of financial crisis analyzed by the macroeconomist and drafted by the American Bar Association. The Federal Reserve Bank kept the interest rates historic lows due to recession in 2000-2002. The low interest rates causes the unwanted money supply and this excess credit was invested heavily in the United States in the form of treasury securities and financial derivatives that leaded to bubble in commodities and houses prices. This paper examines the Federal Reserve monetary and fiscal policy during and prior to course of recession in 2008. The economy had faced at least three crises since 2008, fiscal crisis, financial crisis and unemployment crisis. These crises are interrelated. The unemployment crisis during 2008 has causes the fiscal deficit at the frightening level. The economy is still facing the unemployment and fiscal crises. The unemployment rate remains high in the world and the fiscal problem in Europe has not been fully resolved. The Fiscal Policy: The fiscal policy played...
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...International Threats The impact of the global financial crisis on the world economy A Review of the Literature Foundation Year, BSc (Hons) in Banking and Finance Valikhujaev Voriskhon CA2394385 Group #112 Gerson Lapid, Mirzahidov Mirsodiq November 28, 2009 Abstract Two years have passed since the most severe global financial crisis launched in the USA. During this short period of time a lot has been made by the governments of the countries that suffered from the crisis. Yet, it is still expected that they need to implement more in order to eradicate the negative impacts from the crisis. Only the time will show which country or countries really succeeded in overcoming the crisis and which still need to learn. This paper focuses on how the crisis started, discusses its the main causes, analyses what made it spread to other countries and how much it cost to countries involved in international trading. The impact of the global financial crisis on the world economy A Review of the Litearture The beginning of the 21st century was marked by the start of one of the severest financial crisis that affected dramatically almost all countries of the world. Launched in the USA, in 2008 due to the failure of Lehman Brothers investment bank, it spread out quickly to other countries destroying...
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...Part A: 1. Introduction The Financial Crisis of 2007-2010 is often cited as the most significant downturn in the economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It erupted on August 9, 2007 and spread throughout the advanced market economies such as the US and the UK. The Financial crisis of 2007 is notably different from other crises we faced, for instance Anthony Herbst and Joseph Wu (2009) argued that ‘the financial crisis of this first decade of the 3rd millennium has features that make it both severe and somewhat intractable’. The crisis is argued to be not exogenous to our capitalist economic system, since it is intimately connected to financial innovation and de-regulation in financial markets. Furthermore, as Herbst and Wu (2009) advocate, ‘the current pandemic’ should be discussed in the light of ‘the political wrapper surrounding many aspects of it, and the threads running through it’. The economic situation and financial behaviour are always affected by political realm, so it is also necessary to consider political factors in evaluation of the crisis. General causes of this crisis are still being debated in the academic literature, and this paper aims to provide a relatively comprehensive outlook on the most common and empirically successful accounts of factors that contributed to the crisis. This report is organised as follows: part 1 provides a brief introduction to the current financial crisis; part 2 briefly evaluates the possible causes; part 3 examines whether insufficient...
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...Keynes, ‘love of money’ and the current crisis Paolo Paesani1 This version 1 October 2010 Preliminary version ABSTRACT Keynes saw ‘love of money’, love for the unlimited accumulation of liquidity as mark of personal success and shield against uncertainty, as a defining element of capitalism. This paper investigates connections between ‘love of money’ and the current crisis establishing two main linkages: bonus-based compensation mechanisms and hedge funds. Closer scrutiny and regulation both of bonuses and hedge funds can help prevent future crises. Permanent solutions to the problems posed by ‘love of money’ however will come only from new models of education and persuasion. Keywords: Causes of the financial crisis JEL: 1 University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, e-mail paolo.paesani@uniroma2.it. A previous significantly different version of this paper has been published in Italian in Il Ritorno dell’Economia Politica , G. Bonifati and A. Simonazzi (Eds.) Donzelli Editore, 2010, Roma. I would like to thank Annalisa Rosselli and Matteo Formenti for their helpful suggestions and comments. The usual disclaimer applies. “Whereas modern theory serves as a simulacrum of the economy – stylised and abstract to be sure – Keynes theory is a diagnostic instrument in the service of Doctor Keynes, consulting economic physician” (Hoover 2006, p. 78) “I also want to emphasise strongly the point about economics being a moral science. [A science that]…deals with introspection and with values...
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...Causes of Economic Crisis of 2008 and its resulting Recession Student’s Name Institution Introduction The economic crisis of 2008 which began in the United States had great impact in the global economy. The economic crisis began slowly and grew into global economic crisis. It has affected the stock markets to the extent of stopping operations. In the US it is an issue which has been used as a campaign tool for presidential candidates to request for votes during their campaigns. Due to the crisis many US citizens have felt its impact and even lost their jobs. The crisis began with the United States housing market and gradually resulted into liquidity crisis (Steil, 2009). It is in this regard that this paper looks into the causes of the economic crisis of 2008 and its resulting recession. Causes of the 2008 crisis and its resulting recession Actually, the United States experienced many serious problems that included frozen money markets, plummeting dollar, banks on the threshold of bankruptcy, declining stock market, high levels of public debt and the impending threat of recession. According to some economists, the economic crisis was mainly affected by the world imbalances, perceptions of interest rates, risks and the regulations of the financial system. The following are the main causes of the economic crisis of 2008: Housing Crash The United States housing market is one of the main determinants...
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...The Subprime Mortgage Crisis and What to Do about It A Review of the Literature The fuse for the subprime financial shock was set early in this decade, following the tech-stock bust, September 11th, and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The subprime mortgage crisis is a historic turning point in our economy and our culture. The disruption in our credit markets is already of historic proportions and will have important economic impacts. More importantly, this crisis has set in motion fundamental societal changes – changes that affect our consumer habits, our values, our confidence to the future, and our psychological status. After this financial crisis, our economic went downturns and worsen now. When we talk about or hear about the subprime mortgage crisis, to fully understand the crisis help us to avoid the crisis happening again in the future. This literature review considers different opinions of the subprime mortgage crisis by responding to the following questions: 1. What are subprime mortgages? 2. How did the subprime mortgage crisis happen? 3. What are the causes of the subprime mortgage crisis? 4. Was the subprime mortgage crisis in the U.S. totally unexpected? 5. What to do to avoid it happening again in the future? By answering these questions, we can have understandings of the subprime mortgage crisis and find out the solutions to the crisis. When Americans taking advantage of the easy credit conditions, we take for granted the problems behind the credit...
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...the later part of 2008 the world observed what is being labeled the world financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1920-30. The initial indication of a severe financial melt-down appeared in October 9, 2007 when the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record by closing at 14,047. One year later, the Dow was just above 8,000, after dropping 21% in the first nine days of October 2008. Major stock markets in other countries had plunged alongside the Dow. Credit markets were nearing paralysis. Companies began to lay off workers in droves and were forced to put off capital investments. Individual consumers were being denied loans for mortgages and college tuition. After the nine-day U.S. stock market plunge, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had some sobering words: “Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest U.S.-based and European financial institutions have pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown.” It has been maintained that huge economy inequalities coupled with low rate of profit in the US economy contributed to an increased capital flow to the financial sector and the increasing provision of credit to US workers whose real incomes had declined. Under auspices of financial innovations, debt was sold in complex new financial products to investors. Cheap and apparently riskless lending drove the rising leverage of investments. ‘Securitization’ helped to spread the risks to global financial markets and deficient...
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... Wong 5/4/15 The Great Recession: The Financial Crisis of 2008 Table of Contents: I. Introduction......................................3 II. Cause & Effect of the Housing Bubble..............3 III. Financial Industry................................5 IV. Global Contagion..................................6 a. European Sovereign Debt Crisis of 2007-2008.....7 V. LIBOR.............................................8 b. LIBOR & the Crisis in Lending...................8 VI. Unemployment......................................9 VII. United States Stock Market.......................10 VIII. Laws & Resolutions...............................10 c. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer.......11 Protection Act Timeline d. Dodd-Frank Wall Street & Reform Consumer.......11 Protection Act e. European Laws & Resolutions....................11 IX. Conclusion.......................................12 Introduction The financial crisis of 2007-2008 is considered to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression in 1929. Not only were some of the largest firms in the world threatened but also, the normal lives of everyday people faced great challenges as the entire financial market and banking industry was damaged. The prevention of the folding of these firms was backed with bailouts from national governments and banks. The crisis was the cause of business declines, foreclosures on homes,...
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...In the years leading up to the crisis, high consumption and low savings rates in the U.S. contributed to significant amounts of foreign money flowing into the U.S. from fast-growing economies in Asia and oil-producing countries. This inflow of funds combined with low U.S. interest rates from 2002-2004 resulted in easy credit conditions, which fueled both housing and credit bubbles. Loans of various types (e.g., mortgage, credit card, and auto) were easy to obtain and consumers assumed an unprecedented debt load. As part of the housing and credit booms, the amount of financial agreements called mortgage-backed securities (MBS), which derive their value from mortgage payments and housing prices, greatly increased. Such financial innovation enabled institutions and investors around the world to invest in the U.S. housing market. As housing prices declined, major global financial institutions that had borrowed and invested heavily in subprime MBS reported significant losses. Defaults and losses on other loan types also increased significantly as the crisis expanded from the housing market to other parts of the economy. Total losses are estimated in the trillions of U.S. dollars globally. While the housing and credit bubbles built, a series of factors caused the financial system to become increasingly fragile. Policymakers did not recognize the increasingly important role played by financial institutions such as investment banks and hedge funds, also known as the shadow banking...
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