Prologue to the Crisis: 2000–2006

Abstract

This chapter and Chapter 5 investigate the performance of both the real sector and the financial sector of the US economy over the course of the first 11 years of the twenty-first century. The objective is to understand, through both narrative and empirical evidence, the many developments that took place before, during, and after the financial crisis. This sets the stage for the wider objective of the book, which is to evaluate crisis theories in the light of recent experience.