During November 2008, as I worked on the autumn Pre-Budget Report, I saw a striking statistic. In the course of the previous month, US share prices had seen their biggest drop since 1932, and that year alone, more than $30,000bn had been wiped off the value of global shares – twice the size of the US economy. This left little doubt, in my mind, that the world was facing financial and economic challenges not seen for generations.
In the face of volatile conditions, febrile markets and disrupted economies, a number of questions emerged. What were the roots of this crisis? How should governments everywhere deal with the fallout? What will financial markets look like once we are through this? And what will be the future shape of the international institutional architecture?
