The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 sent shockwaves throughout global markets and economies, marking the start of the global financial crisis. With the Dow dropping over 500 points in a single day, the US economy was well on its way to recession. The G.W. Bush Administration’s Emergency Economic Stabilization Act was quickly passed in October to stabilize the banking system, creating the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), through which the Bush Administration recapitalized the nation’s banks to save the U.S. financial system from collapse. The Obama Administration’s American Recover and Reinvestment Act followed in 2009 to help jumpstart the economy and reduce unemployment, and Congressional leaders later passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which changed financial regulation to improve financial stability.
Now, a decade later, what are the lasting impacts of the financial crisis on the U.S. economy? Looking back in the rearview mirror of fiscal policy, how effective were the responses to the crisis and how are they shaping financial markets today? And what should policymakers do to further strengthen the economy and prepare for future crises?
The Becker Friedman Institute and the Institute of Politics welcomed two distinguished policy leaders from the financial crisis in a conversation on what happened, what we learned, and what can be done to prevent a similar catastrophe from happening again
Barney Frank, former Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee (D-MA) and Co-sponsor of the Dodd-Frank Act
Henry M. Paulson, Jr., former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (President G.W. Bush), Chairman of the Paulson Institute at the University of Chicago
This conversation was moderated by Bethany McLean, contributing editor for Vanity Fair and former IOP Fellow.