ABSTRACT
Compared to the United States (US), the countries of the European Union (EU), in particular those of the Eurozone, were economically and institutionally more prudent in the years preceding the crisis. Financial and related real bubbles fostered high demand and prices and fueled economic expansion and employment. The Eurozone crisis was thus the effect of an external contagion, imported from the United States, and then of a subsequent internal contagion. The situation changed completely when the contagion of the US crisis reached Europe. While there were already tensions and imbalances within the EU, countering this new contagion and its effects required resolute and proper policy action. Some of the causes, steps and effects of the crisis were similar in V4 countries and resembled what happened in other EU member countries. The financial crisis in the United States expanded rapidly to the real economy and ended in a great recession.
