Topic
Markets and crashes
How share prices, banks and currencies crash, how each crash spread, and how it was stopped.
Start here
The Wall Street Crash of 1929Learn why share prices rose and fell so fast in 1929, and why the crash did not cause the Great Depression.Read it From The Great Depression
The history
What happened, step by step, with every figure checked against a named source.
- SeriesThe Great DepressionLearn the key events of the Great Depression: what caused it, how it spread around the world, what it did to people, and how it ended.
- SeriesThe Dot-com BubbleLearn what the dot-com bubble was, why tech shares rose so far and then collapsed, and what followed.
- SeriesThe 2008 Financial CrisisLearn what caused the 2008 financial crisis, how it reached Britain, why the banks were bailed out, and what it cost.
- SeriesThe Collapse of Silicon Valley BankLearn why Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in 2023, how a bank run can happen in a day, and how regulators stopped it spreading.
- SeriesJapan's Asset BubbleLearn what Japan's asset bubble was, why share and land prices rose so far, and why the crash left Japan stuck for years.
- SeriesThe Asian Financial Crisis — 1997 to 2000Learn what caused the 1997 Asian financial crisis, how it spread across the region, what the IMF rescues did, and how Asia recovered.
- SeriesBlack WednesdayLearn what happened on Black Wednesday, why Britain could not keep the pound in the ERM, and what it did next.
- SeriesThe 2022 Mini-BudgetLearn what the 2022 mini-budget announced, why the markets reacted so badly, and why it was reversed within weeks.
- SeriesThe Eurozone Crisis — 2009 to 2015Learn what caused the eurozone crisis, how it spread from Greece, who was rescued and on what terms, and how the ECB calmed it.
The economics
The ideas behind the story, one at a time.
The data
Country figures from the Atlas, from World Bank and other named sources.