The Background: Channels of Contagion in the US Financial Crisis

Abstract

In this introductory chapter, we provide the background material that will help a reader to understand the findings presented in the rest of the book. First, we provide a review of the key facts that characterized the onset and the unfolding of the 2007–09 US financial crisis. In addition, we explore different definitions offinancial contagion and discuss the key papers published on the topic because they provide benchmarks to our empirical analysis.