The potential of banking crises to do lasting economic harm
led policymakers to adopt safeguards in the 1930s that have essentially
eliminated traditional banking panics in the U.S. Although the Great
Recession of 2007-09 was associated with a protracted financial market
disruption — and the failures of some large banks like Washington
Mutual and IndyMac — we did not observe widespread withdrawals
from commercial banks, as in a traditional banking crisis. However,
economists Gary Gorton and Andrew Metrick show that it can be
viewed as a banking crisis that originated in the shadow banking system.
In the last 30 years, institutions very similar in function to traditional
banks have grown outside regulatory oversight. One lesson of the
financial crisis is that these institutions are as vulnerable to panics as
traditional banks because they are subject to similar risks