Conclusion: the lessons to be learned from the now told stories of the 2008 financial crisis

The 2008 financial crisis shares some common characteristics with previous financial crises: first and foremost, they all involved, one way or another, the same destabilising factor that is debt. As thoroughly demonstrated in Chapter 2, historically there was a shift in the way in which debt was approached and understood. Debt was transformed from a legal relationship between debtor and creditor to a tradable commodity. This shift has not only distinguished debt from the other ways of acquiring purchasing power and the other forms of contractual obligations but has also made it a systemic threat and a major source of financial instability.