Reams of commentary have been produced on the factors that unleashed it. Some commentators have focused on the shortcomings of the financial regulations, or on the ineffective supervision of markets and market participants. Others have pointed to the excessive monetary expansion in some countries. Others still have remarked that the lack of international coordination has generated large global imbalances.
There is a grain of truth in each of these analyses. But if we stay at this level of detail we risk missing the essence of the problem and not finding a remedy for it. We have to ask why the regulations were inadequate, why monetary policies were so loose, why international cooperation was insufficient.