A Series of Unfortunate Events: Common Sequencing Patterns in Financial Crises

We document that the global scope and depth of the crisis the began 2007 is unprecedented in the post World War II era and, as such, the most relevant comparison benchmark is the Great Depression of the 1930s. Some of the similarities are examined but the analysis of the aftermath of severe financial crises is also extended to the most severe post-WWII crises. We discriminate between root causes of the crises, recurring crises symptoms, and common features which serve as amplifiers of the boom-bust cycle. Recurring temporal patterns in the boom-bust cycle and their broad sequencing is analyzed.