This paper provides a survey of business cycle facts, updated to take account of recent data. Emphasis is given to the Great Recession which was unlike most other post-war recessions in the US in being driven by deleveraging and financial market factors. We document how recessions with financial...

Understanding political finance reform / Pippa Norris and Andrea Abel van Es -- Brazil / Bruno Speck -- Britain / Justin Fisher -- India / Eswaran Sridharan and Milan Vaishnav -- Indonesia / Marcus Mietzner -- Japan / Matthew Carlson -- Russia / Grigorii V. Golosov -- South Africa / Richard...