ABSTRACT
Beginning in the late 1980s, cross-border ows of nance (investment) increased rapidly, making possible the expansion of trade and accelerating the process of globalization, but also creating some of the problems that led to the global nancial crisis of 2008. When the debt bubble in the U.S. housing market burst, international credit markets froze up and the global banking system nearly collapsed. By 2009 the United States and the European Union (EU) had some of the highest rates of unemployment since World War II. The U.S. government’s emergency interventions in the economy saved big banks and the automobile industry, but many households struggled for years with lower incomes and high monthly debt repayments. The crisis also left many new, heavily indebted college graduates struggling for years to nd rewarding jobs with good pay and benets.2
