It started with the US sub-prime mortgages on housing loans, which became worthless when home owners defaulted on their loans. The housing market promptly collapsed, wiping out Wall Street's revered investment banks and pulling companies, stock markets and economies around the world down with it. In the US, more than USD 1 trillion was lost in a single day when the Dow posted its biggest loss in history on 29 Sep 2008, falling 777.68 points. Experts say this is the closest the world has come to rivaling the Great Depression.
You are to choose one of the following countries or region for your individual analysis and discussion.
- PIGS economies (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain)
a. Describe the impact of the crisis on the region of your choice. These include the impact on capital markets, financial institutions, economic growth, trades, investors' confidence, unemployment rate, etc. Some regions will have been impacted more than others. If the region of your choice escaped the brunt of the crisis, analyze why this was so.
b. How did the regions respond? Be sure to examine the roles of the Central banks in the crisis with regards to monetary policy.
c. What were some examples of fiscal policy measures taken by the governments in these regions?
d. What were the impacts of these responses? Be sure to analyze policies that worked and also those that did not.