KEY ECONOMIC POLICY LESSONS FROM THE 2008 FINANCIAL CRISIS

The current turmoil has shaped the world financial market. While the crisis materialized in 2008, it already began in mid-2000s when the US economy shifted to imbalanced both internal and external macroeconomic positions. We see three key causes of these problems – loose US monetary policy in early 2000s, US government guarantees issued on the securities by government-sponsored enterprises and financial innovations such as structured credit products. We have discovered both negative and positive lessons deriving from this crisis and divided the negative lessons into three groups: financial products and valuation, processes and business models, and strategic issues. Moreover, we address key risk management lessons derived from the current crisis and recommend policies that should help diminish the negative impact of future potential crises.