The Global Financial Crisis and Local Government

The September 2007 sub-prime mortgage crisis in the USA and the subsequent collapse of bank lending pushed the world economy into the worst recession since the 1930s. Ever since there has been a wealth of analysis and debate about the reasons for this so-called global financial crisis (GFC) and how best to rescue large parts of the US and UK banking sectors from total collapse. Governments and central banks have taken unprecedented steps to provide emergency relief to banks, effectively nationalising large parts of the sector. There have also been numerous initiatives to reform the regulatory systems of the financial sector.