2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the International Debt Crisis of 1982; the 35th anniversary of the stock exchange collapse, known as ‘Black Monday’, in October 1987; the 30th anniversary of the crisis of the European Monetary System in 1992; the 25th anniversary of the East Asian crisis (1997); and the 15th anniversary of the so-called ‘credit crunch’, which announced the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Last year was the 50th anniversary of the collapse of Bretton Woods, in 1971, and next year will be the 100th anniversary of the German hyperinflation of 1923, and the 150th of the Panic of 1873.
It thus seems a good moment to reflect on the significance of anniversaries for the history and memory of financial crises.
The workshop will address five main questions around this theme:
- Why are some financial crises properly remembered, others only half-remembered, and others almost entirely forgotten?
- How have financial crises been remembered at certain anniversaries and how has their memory changed from one anniversary to another?
- What role does history play in the collective memory of financial crises?
- Are the anniversaries and other events triggering the memory of financial crises a privileged moment to reflect on the ‘lessons of the past’?
- To what extent are the history and collective memory of financial crises more closely interrelated than for other dramatic events?
The following crises will be considered: the Great Depression; the financial stability of the early 1970s; the International Debt Crisis of 1982; the stock market crash of 1987; the Asian financial crisis of 1997; and the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-9.