Main Figures of the Crisis

One of the most salient features of the current crisis is that there were no warning signs. We had been living through a long period of growth in the majority of developed countries. During the last twenty years economic crises seemed to affect only developing countries. Those who lived in North America and Europe believed that they were immune to crisis. Only Japan had suffered a long period of stagnation and lost its position as a leader among developed countries. At the beginning of the 1990s Japan was the world's second biggest economy and it rivalled the US GDP, but ten years later this challenge had vanished.

The dotcom crisis was temporary because it mainly focused on some technological companies and it affected only these companies. The crisis drove the stock market to a peak followed by a sudden stop and fall. Many investors lost their money, but the overall economy did not suffer a downturn. Unemployment increases only affected workers in the tech companies.

The creation of the euro was a success even though some experts warned that the Eurozone was not an optimal currency area. For many years the euro was beneficial for all its members: some countries could borrow at a very low interest rate while others increased their exports considerably. This success attracted other European countries to join this promising project.

At the same time China was growing considerably and world trade was Increasing.