Economics · Curated list
2008 financial crisis, Wall Street crash of 1929, 1997 Asian financial crisis and 17 more, ranked by how much of the world has written about each one.
Most written-about first. Each description summarises the crisis's Wikipedia article, which its name links to.
1
Worldwide economic crisis
A major financial crisis centred in the United States, in 2008, that spread around the world. Among its causes was excessive speculation on property prices by homeowners and financial institutions alike, which led to the United States housing bubble of the 2000s.
Wikidata · Photo: Lawrencekhoo, Public domain
2
Major stock market crash in the United States
Also called the Great Crash, a major stock market crash in the United States that began in October 1929 with prices falling sharply on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It set off a rapid loss of confidence in U.S. banks and began what became the worldwide Great Depression, which lasted until the United States joined World War II on December 8, 1941; no crash in the country's history has been more devastating.
Regional financial crisis that struck East and Southeast Asia in 1997–1998
A financial crisis that gripped much of East and Southeast Asia in the late 1990s. Starting in Thailand in July 1997, it rippled out to several other countries, raising fears that financial contagion would bring a worldwide economic meltdown.
4
Tech stock speculative craze, c. 1995–2003
A stock market bubble that grew in the late 1990s and peaked on March 10, 2000. It came as the Internet and the World Wide Web spread widely, leading to venture capital being handed out and to a rapid rise in the valuations of new dot-com startups.
Wikidata · Photo: Lalala666 at English Wikipedia, Public domain
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5
17th-century economic bubble in the Netherlands
A time in the Dutch Golden Age when the tulip, newly introduced and in fashion, saw contract prices for certain bulbs rise to extraordinary heights. The big rise began in 1634, and prices collapsed dramatically in February 1637.
Wikidata · Photo: Unknown, 1637, Public domain
6
Global stock market crash
A severe, worldwide and largely unforeseen stock market crash on Monday, October 19, 1987, with estimated losses around the world of US$1.71 trillion.
Mid-1998 economic crisis in Russia
A financial crisis that began in Russia on 17 August 1998, in which the Russian government and the Russian Central Bank devalued the ruble and defaulted on their debt.
8
Default of three major Icelandic banks
A major financial crisis in Iceland between 2008 and 2010, in which all three of the country's big privately owned commercial banks defaulted late in 2008, after they struggled to refinance short-term debt and savers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands rushed to withdraw deposits.
Financial crisis beginning after the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions
The economic fallout of the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present), which began late in February 2022, in the days after Russia recognised two breakaway Ukrainian republics and invaded Ukraine. The economic sanctions that followed have hit much of Russia's economy, as well as Russian oligarchs and members of Russia's government.
10
1893–97 financial crisis in the United States
An economic depression that struck the United States in February 1893 and was declared over after eight months.
Wikidata · Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
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11
2021 financial markets event
In January 2021, a short squeeze on shares of GameStop, the American video game retailer, and on other securities, with major financial consequences for some hedge funds and heavy losses for short sellers. Short positions came to about 140 percent of GameStop's publicly traded shares, and as the price climbed, short sellers scrambling to buy back shares drove it higher still.
Wikidata · Photo: Mike Mozart from Funny YouTube, USA, CC BY 2.0
Economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991
An economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991, during which stock market and real estate prices were hugely inflated. It burst early in 1992, and the economy stagnated.
1992 UK financial crisis
Also called the 1992 sterling crisis, a financial crisis on 16 September 1992, when the UK Government had to take the pound sterling (GBP) out of the (first) European Exchange Rate Mechanism after failing to hold its exchange rate above the floor that ERM membership required. The United Kingdom then held the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Period of devaluation of the Russian rouble, linked to the Crimean conflict
A financial crisis in Russia in 2014–2016, caused by falling oil prices and, to a lesser degree, by sanctions. It began with a devaluation of the Russian rouble from the second half of 2014, which brought high inflation by the end of that year.
15
Financial market reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic
A sudden crash of stock markets around the world that began on 20 February 2020, after growing instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and ended on 7 April 2020.
19th-century United States financial crisis
An American financial crisis that set off a major depression, lasting until the mid-1840s. Wages, prices and profits fell, westward expansion stalled, unemployment rose and pessimism was everywhere.
17
2023 receivership of an American commercial bank
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) after a bank run on March 10, 2023. Only two US bank failures have been bigger, and none as big since the financial crisis of 2008. It was one of three US bank failures in March 2023, with Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank.
Wikidata · Photo: Minh Nguyen, CC BY-SA 4.0
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18
Banking crisis beginning in March 2023
A series of bank failures and bankruptcies in the United States early in 2023, in which the federal government ended up intervening in several ways. In just five days of March 2023, three small-to-mid size U.S. banks collapsed, sending global bank shares sharply lower and prompting regulators to act quickly against possible global contagion.
19
Economic crisis in the Republic of Cyprus
An economic crisis in the Republic of Cyprus involving Cypriot banks' exposure to over-leveraged local property firms, the Greek government-debt crisis, the cutting of the Cypriot government's bond rating to junk by international credit rating agencies, the resulting inability to fund state spending on international markets, and the government's reluctance to restructure the troubled Cypriot financial sector.
Concept asserting ongoing stock market bubble
The idea that a stock market bubble has been inflating since 2025, during the AI boom, when investment in artificial intelligence (AI) has been rising fast and affecting the wider economy. Talk of a bubble comes mostly from concern that the leading AI tech firms are caught up in a circular flow of investments that artificially inflates their share prices.
Every Wikidata item that is a financial crisis, a stock market crash or an economic bubble, and that has its own English Wikipedia article, ranked by the number of Wikimedia sites with a page about it — Wikipedia's language editions, mostly, and sister projects such as Wikiquote. That counts how many communities independently thought it worth describing, and nobody can buy a place on it. The top 20 are shown.
Wikidata files these under this list's query, but they are not what the list is about:
Fetched from Wikidata on 2026-09-25. Each description is this site's summary of the entry's Wikipedia article, which its name links to: the wording is ours, the facts are Wikipedia's, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. To correct an entry, correct it there; the next refresh carries the change.
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