The economic crisis that hit Europe and the US in 2008 took almost everyone by surprise. Yet once it was underway, it seemed to have so many obvious causes as to be inevitable.
Housing bubbles, mis-priced risk, over-reliance on the financial sector, slumbering regulators, credulous journalists, pliant politicians - all contributed to the worst economic storm since the 1930s. Banks defaulted and governments toppled, but there was a wider intellectual crisis too. How could industries that attracted the very smartest people using the most cutting-edge technology get it so wrong?
Now, with the perspective of five years following the crisis up close, Channel 4's economics editor, Faisal Islam, has put pen to paper and the result is an in-depth look at the crash - a new book called The Default Line.
Leave your thoughts below.
Also - don't miss our new Australian Politics Weekly, produced in Canberra for the election campaign.
