Taking a more granular view of leverage within sectors of the economy, we find that households increased their borrowing substantially, particularly through home mortgages. Rising housing prices meant that the ratio of household debt to assets appeared stable in the years prior to the crisis. But household debt compared with disposable income increased significantly, which should have raised a red flag long before the crisis hit. The nonfinancial business sector in most countries entered the crisis with lower leverage, measured as the ratio of debt over book equity, than at the start of the decade. The exceptions were the commercial real estate sector and companies bought through leveraged buyouts. Government debt prior to the crisis was flat or even declining in most countries—a fortunate state, given the current amount of crisis-related public spending.