Financial crises have been pervasive for many years. Bordo and others (2001) find that in recent decades their frequency has doubled that of the Bretton Woods period (1945–71) and the gold standard era (1880–1993) becoming comparable only to the period during the Great Depression. Nevertheless the financial crisis that started in the summer of 2007 came as a great surprise to most people. What initially seemed like difficulties in the U.S. subprime mortgage market rapidly escalated spilling over into financial markets and then the real economy. The crisis changed the financial landscape worldwide and its full costs are yet to be evaluated.