If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Did you know that the 2008 American financial meltdown wasn't just a local housing crisis, but the hidden catalyst for geopolitical explosions as far away as Athens and Crimea?
- Have you ever wondered why the shockwaves of the 'Great Recession' are still fueling the rise of populism and political instability across the globe over a decade later?
- Are you curious about how the secret, high-stakes decisions made by bankers and politicians in the heat of the crash forever changed the way the world’s economy—and its power—is distributed?
Listen to Crashed — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from Crashed
- Understand how the securitization of high-risk subprime mortgages created a massive housing bubble that triggered the 2008 global financial meltdown.
- Discover why Europe's banking industry suffered a deeper crisis than Wall Street due to dangerously high leverage ratios and reckless investments in the US property market.
- Learn how the US Federal Reserve averted a total economic collapse by swiftly utilizing quantitative easing to inject $1.85 trillion into the cash-starved banking system.
- Find out why the Eurozone struggled to contain the crash, as structural flaws in their shared currency and political gridlock left weaker economies unable to print their own money or recover.
- Grasp how the 2008 financial crisis shattered the post-Cold War economic consensus, explaining why the political center has lost so much ground in recent years.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from Crashed
Mind Map
Crashed
Origins in the US
Deregulation & Housing Boom
Subprime Lending & Securitization
The Bubble Bursts
European Banking Contagion
Deep Exposure
Extreme Leverage
The Bank Run
Divergent Crisis Responses
US Decisive Action
Eurozone Gridlock
Sovereign Debt Crises
The Troika & Austerity
Geopolitical Fallout
Eastern Europe Vulnerability
The Ukraine Crisis
London's Decline & Brexit
The Offshore Hub
The Crash Impact
The Path to Brexit
US Political Upheaval
Unequal Pain and Profit
Rise of Populism
The 2016 Election
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 9
What practice allowed lenders to justify offering high-risk 'subprime' mortgages prior to the 2008 crash?
Crashed — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: The United States mortgage sector was a fragile house of cards set to collapse.
Chapter 3: Europe’s financial crisis was a direct result of the United States crash.
Chapter 4: The Eurozone couldn’t replicate the United States’ effective crisis response strategy.
Chapter 5: A lack of European unity meant smaller countries couldn’t manage the consequences of the 2008 financial crash alone.
Chapter 6: Russia leveraged the former Eastern Bloc’s economic weakness, setting it in opposition to the West.
Chapter 7: After the crash, London lost its status as a global trading hub.
Chapter 8: The Brexit vote was first intended to pressure the EU to safeguard London’s status as an offshore financial hub.
Chapter 9: Furious American voters deserted the political center in the aftermath of the financial crash.
Chapter 10: Anger over the unequal split of pain and profit in post-crash America spilled into the ballot box nationwide.
Crashed Summary & Overview
Crashed (2018) unpacks the metaphorical seismograph to take the measure of an economic earthquake whose tremors can still be felt today – the 2008 financial crisis. Written with an eye to the global effects of what’s now known as the “Great Recession,” Adam Tooze traces the crash’s shockwaves from their epicenter in the American financial markets to their conclusions in Crimea, London, Athens and other geopolitical hotspots.
Who Should Listen to Crashed?
- Economists, policymakers and anyone in financial trading
- History buffs fascinated by the links between economics and politics
- Disgruntled citizens wondering how politicians and bankers landed us in such a mess
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