The world economic crisis was the crisis that affected the world economy in 2008. Different countries and regions emerged from the acute phase of the crisis at different times, from 2009 to 2013, and its consequences persist even today. It developed due to the financial crisis that began in the United States. In 2009, world GDP, for the first time since World War II, showed a negative trend.
World trade also fell by more than 10%, restoring volume only by 2011, but still significantly behind the pre-crisis growth rates.
The crisis in the US economy and the eurozone ended in the second quarter of 2009, but in 2011, the second recession began in the eurozone, lasting until 2013 and becoming the longest in its history.
Causes of the financial crisis
- self-destruction of the financial pyramid of US debt obligations;
- virtualization of financial operations, entailing an underestimation of financial risks and the separation of the financial market from the real sector of the economy;
- the depreciation of a significant part of the capital in the context of ending opportunities for economic growth.
The main reason for the collapse of the global economy is the overproduction of the main world currency - the US dollar. Also, US banks gave lots of mortgages to citizens, and issues from them derivatives. Virtual money, which was sold and resold, began to turn around all over the world. Borrowers did not return real money on time - thus, a chain reaction began.
The category of mortgage owners included those Americans who were simply not able to regularly pay interest on loans. As a result, housing passed into the ownership of banks, and there were not enough people who wanted to buy this housing.
The outcome of this state of affairs was quite predictable - bank failure. The situation arose due to the fact that the stock market was occupied by speculative players, who were engaged in creating financial pyramids. As a result, the US financial system failed - the billions and trillions of dollars that were involved in high-risk financial transactions turned out to be illiquid.
The American economy has a huge impact on the economies of many countries of the world - the branches of American corporations are open in almost all countries, the American dollar - US securities - traditionally act as a financial guarantor for other countries that protect themselves against various risks with their help.
What did the US do to overcome the crisis? After Paulson’s plan was rejected, the Obama Plan ($ 787 billion) began to gain strength. It involved special investments in the country's economy:
- the production of renewable energy and the modernization of public buildings in the direction of reducing their energy costs (35 billion);
- science and advanced technologies (22 billion);
- modernization of the transport infrastructure (27.5 billion);
- tax subsidies to schools and colleges, tax deductions for citizens, financing of educational programs (85.2 billion);
- investments in healthcare (21 billion).
According to estimates, thanks to the Obama plan, the US economy was supposed to return to its lost positions earlier than expected. At best, according to this forecast, Obama's plan was going to lead the country out of the crisis by 2009.
Most of the allocated 787 billion dollars went to stimulate the economy directly in the form of investments in various fields. The largest sections of the Plan: tax cuts, assistance to states and local governments, science and infrastructure, health care, education, the energy sector, etc.
Many economists are unanimous in their opinion that the current financial crisis is a direct consequence of the mortgage lending crisis in the USA (the share of this sector in the country's economy is 1.4%). As we can all see, the world has not yet fully recovered from that crisis, and it is completely unprepared for a new one.
