FinObservatory

Crisis atlas / USA / 1984–1991

United States, 1984–1991

One crisis episode: distinct crisis years merged across gaps of up to two non-crisis years. Types, source agreement, and macro context are drawn from the union of five primary chronologies.

Banking

Crisis years in this episode

Every distinct (year, type) event inside the 1984–1991 window, with the chronologies flagging it and the count of agreeing sources. Start-year sources (GMD, JST) mark only the first year, so agreement falls in the continuation years.

  1. 1984
    Bankinggmd, jst, rr3 sources
  2. 1985
    Bankingrr1 source
  3. 1986
    Bankingrr1 source
  4. 1987
    Bankingrr1 source
  5. 1988
    Bankinglaeven_valencia, rr2 sources
  6. 1989
    Bankingrr1 source
  7. 1990
    Bankinggmd, rr2 sources
  8. 1991
    Bankingrr1 source

Source: Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory R6 | Laeven & Valencia (2020, 2026) | Reinhart-Rogoff via HBS BFFS | ECB/ESRB Financial Crises Database Methodology

Laeven-Valencia banking-crisis detail

Episode-level fiscal cost and output loss from the systemic banking crises database. Fiscal cost is the gross outlay of banking-sector rescues; output loss is the cumulative deviation of real GDP from its pre-crisis trend, both as a percent of GDP.

Banking episode 1988
3.7%
Fiscal cost, % of GDP
0.0%
Output loss, % of GDP
1988
Episode end year

Source: Laeven & Valencia (2026), IMF WP/26/94, Systemic Banking Crises Database 1970-2025 Methodology

Macro context, 19771998

Seven years either side of the episode. Each panel has its own scale; the crisis window is shaded. Only indicators with data for United States in this window are shown. Bank credit growth (year over year in total loans) is available for the 18 Jordà-Schularick-Taylor advanced economies.

Inflation (% y/y)
051015197719841998
Real GDP growth (% y/y)
-50510197719841998
Policy rate (%)
0102030197719841998
Govt debt (% of GDP)
0255075197719841998
Unemployment (%)
0510197719841998
Current account (% of GDP)
-4-202197719841998
Bank credit growth (% y/y)
-1001020197719841998

Source: Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory R6 (credit) Real GDP growth is derived as the year-over-year change in real GDP; current account and government debt are percent of GDP; policy rate is the central-bank rate; bank credit growth is the year-over-year change in JST total loans. Methodology

How each source dates this episode

The chronologies disagree on start years and durations. This table is generated from the event rows, not curated: it lists, per crisis type, which source flags which years inside the window.

Banking
  • Global Macro Database1984, 1990
  • Jordà-Schularick-Taylor1984
  • Reinhart-Rogoff1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
  • Laeven-Valencia1988

Source: Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory R6 | Laeven & Valencia (2020, 2026) | Reinhart-Rogoff via HBS BFFS | ECB/ESRB Financial Crises Database Methodology

Documented policy responses

15 interventions from the Metrick-Schmelzing banking-crisis database whose recorded year falls inside this episode window (1984–1991). Each row is one documented government or central-bank action, tagged with the database’s own intervention categories and short code, under the crisis code it assigns. Matching is exact: same country, intervention year inside the window. The database’s global-crisis rows (no country) are never matched here.

USA-1984United States
  1. May-1984GuaranteesASG
  2. May-1984Capital injectionsAHCI
  3. May-1984GuaranteesAG
  4. May-1985GuaranteesAG
  5. May-1985Regulatory forbearance / rulesSBH
  6. Mar-1985GuaranteesAG
  7. Mar-1985Regulatory forbearance / rulesSBH
  8. Mar-1985Regulatory forbearance / rulesORL
  9. Oct-1987LendingMLA
  10. Oct-1987Regulatory forbearance / rulesORL
  11. Aug-1989Regulatory forbearance / rulesORL
  12. Oct-1990GuaranteesAG
  13. Oct-1990LendingAHEL
  14. Oct-1990Regulatory forbearance / rulesSBH
  15. Jan-1991GuaranteesAG

Source: Metrick-Schmelzing Banking-Crisis Interventions Database (Yale Program on Financial Stability) Cite as: Metrick, Andrew, and Paul Schmelzing, "Banking-Crisis Interventions Across Time and Space," working paper, 2024 (dataset consulted 2026-07-10). License: Creative Commons attribution. Methodology

Policy-response case studies (external)

For qualitative accounts of how authorities intervened in systemic crises, see the Yale Program on Financial Stability New Bagehot Project, a library of financial-crisis intervention case studies. It is a separate qualitative resource; no specific case is asserted to match this episode.