We describe and evaluate the measures taken by the U.S. government to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September 2008. We begin by outlining the business model of these two firms and their role in the U.S. housing finance system. Our focus then turns to the sources of financial distress that...

We describe and evaluate the measures taken by the U.S. government to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September 2008. We begin by outlining the business model of these two firms and their role in the U.S. housing finance system. Our focus then turns to the sources of financial distress that...

The key dynamics of the transatlantic banking crisis are analyzed – with emphasis on the fact that the banking disaster of 2007/08 was not really a surprise –, and the five key requirements for restoring stability and efficiency in the EU/OECD banking sector are highlighted. Most important,...

Most economists expected that the "Great Recession" produced by the financial meltdown of 2008 would usher in a resurgence of traditional Keynesian economics and a decline of what has come to be called "market fundamentalism". By contrast, also due to the inadequate size of the 2009 stimulus...

Most economists expected that the Great Recession produced by the financial meltdown of 2008 would usher in a resurgence of traditional Keynesian economics and a decline of what has come to be called “market fundamentalism”. By contrast, also due to the inadequate size of the 2009 stimulus...

Most economists expected that the “Great Recession” produced by the financial meltdown of 2008 would usher in a resurgence of traditional Keynesian economics and a decline of what has come to be called “market fundamentalism”. By contrast, also due to the inadequate size of the 2009...

The recent crisis of 2008 has revealed several challenges for the economic science, sparking a considerable amount of debate regarding the profession of economists and the role of macroeconomics and monetary policies. The first question that arose was why there was a lack of anticipation of the...

Most economists expected that the “Great Recession” produced by the financial meltdown of 2008 would usher in a resurgence of traditional Keynesian economics and a decline of what has come to be called “market fundamentalism." By contrast, also due to the inadequate size of the 2009...

This paper examines transmission of shocks between the U.S. and foreign markets to delineate interdependence from contagion of the U.S. financial crisis by constructing shock models for partially-overlapping and non-overlapping markets. There exists important bi-directional, yet asymmetric,...

The problems that caused the recession began to accumulate in the global economics (and in the U.S. economics in particular) since the early 1980's. Problems were amassing as a clod, sophistication and ingenuity of economists and development of economic thought allowed to delay and put the peak...