THREE DECADES OF FINANCIAL CRISES: WHAT IS REALLY TO BLAME?

The United States has experienced a financial crisis every ten years for the past three decades. Investors, financial institutions, and government officials fear these moments because of how negative the experience is and the strain it puts on the nation’s financial markets. Analyzing the financial crises of 1987, 1997 and 2008 shows what is to blame for the chaotic times that happened. In all these instances, human actions set up the occurrences that allowed a crash to take place. Each crash is different in their own respect; however, greed, procrastination and a herd mentality are the biggest reappearing trends in each ten-year cycle. Human nature helped escalate each of these crises as well, making them worse than they might have been.

It is important to know why financial crises happen every ten years since the United States is approaching what could be the next ten-year cycle. However, 2019 could be the year the financial markets escape past trends, but that will not happen without understanding why past crises have taken place. If humans stop creating the occurrences for a crisis, there will be nothing for human nature to escalate and make worse. The more independence and knowledge investors and financial institutions have, the easier it will be to stop the occurrences that create a crisis every ten years. This thesis explores why human actions are really to blame for the financial crises the United States’ markets have experienced, and why human nature is to blame for escalating the crisis experienced. Moving forward, if humans can stop creating the occurrences for a financial crisis, the markets can be changed for the better.