Great Financial Crisis

The Great Recession (2007–2012) was a period of general economic decline observed in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country. In terms of overall impact, the International Monetary Fund concluded that it was the worst global recession since the 1930s (the Great Depression). The causes of the recession largely originated in the United States, particularly related to the real-estate market, though choices made by other nations contributed as well. According to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of U.S. recessions) the recession, as experienced in that country, began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, thus extending over 19 months. The Great Recession was related to the financial crisis of 2007–08 and U.S. subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–09. The Great Recession resulted in the scarcity of valuable assets in the market economy and the collapse of the financial sector (banks) in the world economy. The banks were then bailed out by the U.S. government.

The recession was not felt evenly around the world. Whereas most of the world's developed economies, particularly in North America and Europe (including Russia), fell into a definitive recession, many of the newer developed economies suffered far less impact, particularly China and India whose economies grew substantially during this period.

Two senses of the word "recession" exist: a less precise sense, referring broadly to "a period of reduced economic activity"; and the academic sense used most often in economics, which is defined operationally, referring specifically to the contraction phase of a business cycle, with two or more consecutive quarters of GDP contraction. Under the academic definition, the recession ended in the United States in June or July 2009. In the broader, lay sense of the word however, many people use the term to refer to ongoing hardship (in the same way that the term "Great Depression" is also popularly used).

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