Posted On: Social Insurance

On Thursday, we shared with a Yale Law School audience this short passage from our book about the performance of Unemployment Insurance during The Great Recession:

“Between March and November of 2008, one titan of American finance after another—Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Countrywide—collapsed outright, fell into government receivership, or was acquired by a competitor at a bargain-basement price. Panic reigned in financial markets. Stock prices swooned. Debt markets seized up. Lending for home mortgages slowed from a torrent to a trickle.