Recently there has been renewed interest in assessing economic models in the context of specific, empirically identified economic shocks. Typically, these shocks are identified one-at-a-time, ignoring potential correlations across shocks, or are identified in the context of a structural vector...

This paper provides a historical perspective on the current crisis, contrasting the old with the modern. We identify the growth of the nonbank financial sector (a shadow banking system) that was not regulated by the central bank or covered by the financial safety net as a key modern twist,...