Great Recession

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/great-recession

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the comparative severity?The most severe global economic and financial meltdown since the Great Depression
2. What was the Great Recession and when did it happen?It was a big worldwide economic slowdown that started in late 2007 and ended in June 2009. It was the worst since the Great Depression.
3. Why did the Great Recession start?It began when the U.S. housing bubble burst, causing many people to lose their homes and banks to lose money on mortgage loans.

Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS): Financial assets created by pooling mortgage loans and selling claims on their cash flows to investors.
Liquidity Crisis: A situation where financial institutions lack sufficient cash or easily convertible assets to meet their short-term obligations.
Systemic Risk: The risk that the failure of one financial institution could trigger a cascade of failures throughout the entire financial system.