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|---|---|---|
1,545 | Alfred North Whitehead was born in Ramsgate, Kent, England, in 1861. His father, Alfred Whitehead, was a minister and schoolmaster of Chatham House Academy, a successful school for boys established by Thomas Whitehead, Alfred North's grandfather. Whitehead himself recalled both of them as being very successful schoolma... | [
{
"answer": "Ramsgate, Kent, England",
"question": "Where was Alfred North Whitehead born?"
},
{
"answer": "1861",
"question": "In what year was Whitehead born?"
},
{
"answer": "Thomas Whitehead, Alfred North's grandfather",
"question": "Who founded Chatham House Academy?"
},
{
... |
1,546 | In 1918 Whitehead's academic responsibilities began to seriously expand as he accepted a number of high administrative positions within the University of London system, of which Imperial College London was a member at the time. He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of London in late 1918 (a po... | [
{
"answer": "University of London system",
"question": "In which educational system was Whitehead employed in the late 1910s?"
},
{
"answer": "Dean of the Faculty of Science",
"question": "What was Whitehead's title at the University of London in late 1918?"
},
{
"answer": "chairman of t... |
1,547 | The two volume biography of Whitehead by Victor Lowe is the most definitive presentation of the life of Whitehead. However, many details of Whitehead's life remain obscure because he left no Nachlass; his family carried out his instructions that all of his papers be destroyed after his death. Additionally, Whitehead wa... | [
{
"answer": "Victor Lowe",
"question": "Who authored Whitehead's biography that is considered to be the most reliable description of Whitehead's life?"
},
{
"answer": "his family carried out his instructions that all of his papers be destroyed after his death",
"question": "Why was no Nachlass l... |
1,548 | In addition to numerous articles on mathematics, Whitehead wrote three major books on the subject: A Treatise on Universal Algebra (1898), Principia Mathematica (co-written with Bertrand Russell and published in three volumes between 1910 and 1913), and An Introduction to Mathematics (1911). The former two books were a... | [
{
"answer": "A Treatise on Universal Algebra",
"question": "What was Whitehead's first published book on mathematics?"
},
{
"answer": "Bertrand Russell",
"question": "With what mathematician and philosopher did Whitehead collaborate to write Principia Mathematica?"
},
{
"answer": "profes... |
1,549 | At the time structures such as Lie algebras and hyperbolic quaternions drew attention to the need to expand algebraic structures beyond the associatively multiplicative class. In a review Alexander Macfarlane wrote: "The main idea of the work is not unification of the several methods, nor generalization of ordinary alg... | [
{
"answer": "the need to expand algebraic structures beyond the associatively multiplicative class",
"question": "What did Lie algebras and hyperbolic quaternions demonstrate a need for?"
},
{
"answer": "comparative study of their several structures",
"question": "How did Alexander Macfarlane su... |
1,550 | Whitehead and Russell had thought originally that Principia Mathematica would take a year to complete; it ended up taking them ten years. To add insult to injury, when it came time for publication, the three-volume work was so massive (more than 2,000 pages) and its audience so narrow (professional mathematicians) that... | [
{
"answer": "a year",
"question": "How long did Whitehead and Russell expect to spend creating Principia Mathematica?"
},
{
"answer": "ten years",
"question": "How long did it actually take to complete Principia Mathematica? "
},
{
"answer": "the three-volume work was so massive (more th... |
1,551 | This is not to say that Whitehead's thought was widely accepted or even well-understood. His philosophical work is generally considered to be among the most difficult to understand in all of the western canon. Even professional philosophers struggled to follow Whitehead's writings. One famous story illustrating the lev... | [
{
"answer": "generally considered to be among the most difficult to understand in all of the western canon",
"question": "What is the general opinion of the difficulty level of Whitehead's work in philosophy?"
},
{
"answer": "Gifford lectures",
"question": "What lectures did Whitehead present in... |
1,552 | However, Mathews' frustration with Whitehead's books did not negatively affect his interest. In fact, there were numerous philosophers and theologians at Chicago's Divinity School that perceived the importance of what Whitehead was doing without fully grasping all of the details and implications. In 1927 they invited o... | [
{
"answer": "Mathews' frustration with Whitehead's books did not negatively affect his interest",
"question": "What affect did Matthews' opinion of the difficulty of Whitehead's works have on his interest in them?"
},
{
"answer": "perceived the importance of what Whitehead was doing without fully gr... |
1,553 | Wieman's words proved prophetic. Though Process and Reality has been called "arguably the most impressive single metaphysical text of the twentieth century," it has been little-read and little-understood, partly because it demands – as Isabelle Stengers puts it – "that its readers accept the adventure of the questions ... | [
{
"answer": "\"arguably the most impressive single metaphysical text of the twentieth century,\"",
"question": "How has \"Process and Reality\" been described? "
},
{
"answer": "it demands – as Isabelle Stengers puts it – \"that its readers accept the adventure of the questions that will separate th... |
1,554 | It must be emphasized, however, that an entity is not merely a sum of its relations, but also a valuation of them and reaction to them. For Whitehead, creativity is the absolute principle of existence, and every entity (whether it is a human being, a tree, or an electron) has some degree of novelty in how it responds t... | [
{
"answer": "creativity is the absolute principle of existence",
"question": "What did Whitehead believe regarding creativity?"
},
{
"answer": "reaction to them.",
"question": "An entity is a sum of relations, a valuation of them and what else?"
},
{
"answer": "consciousness",
"quest... |
1,555 | Since Whitehead's metaphysics described a universe in which all entities experience, he needed a new way of describing perception that was not limited to living, self-conscious beings. The term he coined was "prehension", which comes from the Latin prehensio, meaning "to seize." The term is meant to indicate a kind of ... | [
{
"answer": "comes from the Latin prehensio, meaning \"to seize.\"",
"question": "What is the origin of the word \"prehension\"?"
},
{
"answer": "the mind only has private ideas about other entities",
"question": "What is a basic description of the theory of representative perception?"
},
{
... |
1,556 | Whitehead describes causal efficacy as "the experience dominating the primitive living organisms, which have a sense for the fate from which they have emerged, and the fate towards which they go." It is, in other words, the sense of causal relations between entities, a feeling of being influenced and affected by the su... | [
{
"answer": "unmediated by the senses",
"question": "How do the senses affect causal efficacy?"
},
{
"answer": "it is pure appearance, which may or may not be delusive",
"question": "What can be said about the accuracy of presentational immediacy?"
},
{
"answer": "causal efficacy",
"... |
1,558 | Whitehead makes the startling observation that "life is comparatively deficient in survival value." If humans can only exist for about a hundred years, and rocks for eight hundred million, then one is forced to ask why complex organisms ever evolved in the first place; as Whitehead humorously notes, "they certainly did... | [
{
"answer": "\"life is comparatively deficient in survival value.\"",
"question": "What observation did Whitehead make about life?"
},
{
"answer": "they are actively engaged in modifying their environment",
"question": "What did Whitehead state was the biggest indicator of a higher form of life?... |
1,559 | Whitehead's idea of God differs from traditional monotheistic notions. Perhaps his most famous and pointed criticism of the Christian conception of God is that "the Church gave unto God the attributes which belonged exclusively to Caesar." Here Whitehead is criticizing Christianity for defining God as primarily a divin... | [
{
"answer": "\"the brief Galilean vision of humility\"",
"question": "What was Whitehead's description of God?"
},
{
"answer": "\"the Church gave unto God the attributes which belonged exclusively to Caesar.\"",
"question": "What is Whitehead's most well-known critical statement regarding the Ch... |
1,560 | It should be emphasized, however, that for Whitehead God is not necessarily tied to religion. Rather than springing primarily from religious faith, Whitehead saw God as necessary for his metaphysical system. His system required that an order exist among possibilities, an order that allowed for novelty in the world and ... | [
{
"answer": "God is not necessarily tied to religion",
"question": "What was Whitehead's belief about God in relation to religion?"
},
{
"answer": "primordial nature of God",
"question": "In what did Whitehead believe that those concepts existed?"
},
{
"answer": "the consequent nature",
... |
1,561 | God's consequent nature, on the other hand, is anything but unchanging – it is God's reception of the world's activity. As Whitehead puts it, "[God] saves the world as it passes into the immediacy of his own life. It is the judgment of a tenderness which loses nothing that can be saved." In other words, God saves and c... | [
{
"answer": "God's reception of the world's activity",
"question": "How does Whitehead define he consequent nature of God?"
},
{
"answer": "God saves and cherishes all experiences forever",
"question": "What does Whitehead say that God does with all experiences?"
},
{
"answer": "It is th... |
1,562 | Whitehead thus sees God and the world as fulfilling one another. He sees entities in the world as fluent and changing things that yearn for a permanence which only God can provide by taking them into God's self, thereafter changing God and affecting the rest of the universe throughout time. On the other hand, he sees G... | [
{
"answer": "deficient in actuality and change",
"question": "In what way did Whitehead view God as deficient?"
},
{
"answer": "merely eternally unrealized possibilities",
"question": "What did Whitehead claim God would be without the world?"
},
{
"answer": "Whitehead thus sees God and t... |
1,563 | For Whitehead the core of religion was individual. While he acknowledged that individuals cannot ever be fully separated from their society, he argued that life is an internal fact for its own sake before it is an external fact relating to others. His most famous remark on religion is that "religion is what the individ... | [
{
"answer": "individual",
"question": "What did Whitehead believe was the basis of religion?"
},
{
"answer": "\"religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness ... and if you are never solitary, you are never religious.\"",
"question": "What is Whitehead's most famous statement on... |
1,564 | However, while Whitehead saw religion as beginning in solitariness, he also saw religion as necessarily expanding beyond the individual. In keeping with his process metaphysics in which relations are primary, he wrote that religion necessitates the realization of "the value of the objective world which is a community d... | [
{
"answer": "solitariness",
"question": "In what state did Whitehead believe religion began?"
},
{
"answer": "\"the value of the objective world which is a community derivative from the interrelations of its component individuals.\"",
"question": "What realization did Whitehead believe religion ... |
1,565 | Overall, however, Whitehead's influence is very difficult to characterize. In English-speaking countries, his primary works are little-studied outside of Claremont and a select number of liberal graduate-level theology and philosophy programs. Outside of these circles his influence is relatively small and diffuse, and ... | [
{
"answer": "through the work of his students and admirers rather",
"question": "Where has interest outside of those areas mainly come from?"
},
{
"answer": "Bruno Latour",
"question": "What French sociologist and anthropologist stated that Whitehead was \"the greatest philosopher of the 20th ce... |
1,566 | Historically Whitehead's work has been most influential in the field of American progressive theology. The most important early proponent of Whitehead's thought in a theological context was Charles Hartshorne, who spent a semester at Harvard as Whitehead's teaching assistant in 1925, and is widely credited with develop... | [
{
"answer": "American progressive theology",
"question": "In what field of study has Whitehead's work been most influential in the United States?"
},
{
"answer": "Charles Hartshorne",
"question": "Who was the most important early supporter of Whitehead's work in the context of theology?"
},
... |
1,567 | Process theology typically stresses God's relational nature. Rather than seeing God as impassive or emotionless, process theologians view God as "the fellow sufferer who understands", and as the being who is supremely affected by temporal events. Hartshorne points out that people would not praise a human ruler who was ... | [
{
"answer": "God's relational nature",
"question": "What aspect of God is usually emphasized in process theology?"
},
{
"answer": "\"the fellow sufferer who understands\", and as the being who is supremely affected by temporal events",
"question": "How is God usually perceived by process theolog... |
1,568 | In fact, process theology is difficult to define because process theologians are so diverse and transdisciplinary in their views and interests. John B. Cobb, Jr. is a process theologian who has also written books on biology and economics. Roland Faber and Catherine Keller integrate Whitehead with poststructuralist, pos... | [
{
"answer": "biology and economics",
"question": "What subjects has John B. Cobb, Jr. written books on other than process theology?"
},
{
"answer": "poststructuralist, postcolonialist, and feminist theory",
"question": "What theories do Roland Faber and Catherine Keller combine with Whitehead's ... |
1,569 | Whitehead also described religion more technically as "an ultimate craving to infuse into the insistent particularity of emotion that non-temporal generality which primarily belongs to conceptual thought alone." In other words, religion takes deeply felt emotions and contextualizes them within a system of general truth... | [
{
"answer": "\"an ultimate craving to infuse into the insistent particularity of emotion that non-temporal generality which primarily belongs to conceptual thought alone.\"",
"question": "What was Whitehead's technical definition of religion?"
},
{
"answer": "religion takes deeply felt emotions and ... |
1,570 | Margaret Stout and Carrie M. Staton have also written recently on the mutual influence of Whitehead and Mary Parker Follett, a pioneer in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior. Stout and Staton see both Whitehead and Follett as sharing an ontology that "understands becoming as a relational pro... | [
{
"answer": "pioneer in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior",
"question": "What is Mary Parker Follett known for?"
},
{
"answer": "ontology that \"understands becoming as a relational process; difference as being related, yet unique; and the purpose of becoming as harmoni... |
1,571 | Moreover, a conflict of interest between professional investment managers and their institutional clients, combined with a global glut in investment capital, led to bad investments by asset managers in over-priced credit assets. Professional investment managers generally are compensated based on the volume of client as... | [
{
"answer": "continue to invest client funds in over-priced (under-yielding) investments",
"question": "What did many asset managers decide to do to the detriment of their clients?"
},
{
"answer": "a conflict of interest",
"question": "What led to bad investments by asset managers in over-priced... |
1,572 | The first visible institution to run into trouble in the United States was the Southern California–based IndyMac, a spin-off of Countrywide Financial. Before its failure, IndyMac Bank was the largest savings and loan association in the Los Angeles market and the seventh largest mortgage originator in the United States.... | [
{
"answer": "Countrywide Financial",
"question": "Who was Southern California-based IndyMac a spin-off of?"
},
{
"answer": "July 11, 2008",
"question": "On what date did IndyMac fail?"
},
{
"answer": "IndyMac",
"question": "Which financial institution was the first one visible to run... |
1,573 | IndyMac reported that during April 2008, Moody's and Standard & Poor's downgraded the ratings on a significant number of Mortgage-backed security (MBS) bonds including $160 million of those issued by IndyMac and which the bank retained in its MBS portfolio. IndyMac concluded that these downgrades would have negatively ... | [
{
"answer": "April 2008",
"question": "When did Moody's and Standard & Poor downgrade a significant number of IndyMac's MBS bonds?"
},
{
"answer": "9.27%",
"question": "If IndyMac's downgraded MBS bond ratings had been in effect at March 31, 2008, what would the bank's capital ratio have been?"
... |
1,574 | Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) would later point out that brokered deposits made up more than 37 percent of IndyMac's total deposits and ask the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) whether it had considered ordering IndyMac to reduce its reliance on these deposits. With $18.9 billion in total deposits reported... | [
{
"answer": "Charles Schumer (D-NY)",
"question": "Who is the Senator that asked FDIC if it had considered ordering IndyMac to reduce its reliance on brokered deposits?"
},
{
"answer": "Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation",
"question": "What does the abbreviation FDIC stand for?"
},
{
... |
1,575 | When home prices declined in the latter half of 2007 and the secondary mortgage market collapsed, IndyMac was forced to hold $10.7 billion of loans it could not sell in the secondary market. Its reduced liquidity was further exacerbated in late June 2008 when account holders withdrew $1.55 billion or about 7.5% of Indy... | [
{
"answer": "$1.55 billion",
"question": "How much in deposits did account holders withdraw from IndyMac in late June 2008?"
},
{
"answer": "7.5%",
"question": "What percent of IndyMac's deposits were withdrawn by account holders in late June 2008?"
},
{
"answer": "$10.7 billion",
"q... |
1,576 | On July 11, 2008, citing liquidity concerns, the FDIC put IndyMac Bank into conservatorship. A bridge bank, IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, was established to assume control of IndyMac Bank's assets, its secured liabilities, and its insured deposit accounts. The FDIC announced plans to open IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB on July... | [
{
"answer": "IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB",
"question": "What was the name of the bridge bank established to assume control of IndyMac Bank's assets, liabilities and deposit accounts?"
},
{
"answer": "US$100,000",
"question": "What is the maximum amount of funds the FDIC guarantees in insured accou... |
1,577 | Initially the companies affected were those directly involved in home construction and mortgage lending such as Northern Rock and Countrywide Financial, as they could no longer obtain financing through the credit markets. Over 100 mortgage lenders went bankrupt during 2007 and 2008. Concerns that investment bank Bear S... | [
{
"answer": "Over 100",
"question": "How many mortgage lenders went bankrupt during 2007 and 2008?"
},
{
"answer": "Bear Stearns",
"question": "Who is the investment bank that was feared to collapse in March 2008 and was sold in a fire-sale to JP Morgan Chase?"
},
{
"answer": "September ... |
1,578 | In September 2008, the crisis hit its most critical stage. There was the equivalent of a bank run on the money market funds, which frequently invest in commercial paper issued by corporations to fund their operations and payrolls. Withdrawal from money markets were $144.5 billion during one week, versus $7.1 billion th... | [
{
"answer": "money market funds",
"question": "The equivalent of a bank run on which funds occurred in September 2008?"
},
{
"answer": "commercial paper issued by corporations",
"question": "What do money market funds frequently invest in?"
},
{
"answer": "September 2008",
"question"... |
1,579 | Economist Paul Krugman and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner explain the credit crisis via the implosion of the shadow banking system, which had grown to nearly equal the importance of the traditional commercial banking sector as described above. Without the ability to obtain investor funds in exchange for most ... | [
{
"answer": "shadow banking system",
"question": "Economist Paul Krugman explained the credit crisis via the implosion of which system?"
},
{
"answer": "shadow banking system",
"question": "What is the system with nearly equal the importance of traditional commercial banking?"
},
{
"answ... |
1,580 | This meant that nearly one-third of the U.S. lending mechanism was frozen and continued to be frozen into June 2009. According to the Brookings Institution, the traditional banking system does not have the capital to close this gap as of June 2009: "It would take a number of years of strong profits to generate sufficie... | [
{
"answer": "nearly one-third",
"question": "How much of the U.S. lending mechanism was frozen until June 2009?"
},
{
"answer": "the collapse of the shadow banking system",
"question": "What is the primary cause of the reduction in funds available for borrowing?"
},
{
"answer": "Brooking... |
1,582 | In November 2008, economist Dean Baker observed: "There is a really good reason for tighter credit. Tens of millions of homeowners who had substantial equity in their homes two years ago have little or nothing today. Businesses are facing the worst downturn since the Great Depression. This matters for credit decisions.... | [
{
"answer": "serious",
"question": "According to economist Dean Baker, a homeowner who has no equity if this type default risk?"
},
{
"answer": "loss of close to $6 trillion in housing wealth",
"question": "What is one of the major problems with the economy in November 2008?"
},
{
"answe... |
1,584 | The Brookings Institution reported in June 2009 that U.S. consumption accounted for more than a third of the growth in global consumption between 2000 and 2007. "The US economy has been spending too much and borrowing too much for years and the rest of the world depended on the U.S. consumer as a source of global deman... | [
{
"answer": "more than a third",
"question": "According to The Brookings Institution report in June 2009, how much growth did U.S. consumption account for between 2000 and 2007?"
},
{
"answer": "14.4%",
"question": "For the first quarter of 2009, what was the annualized rate of decline in GDP in... |
1,585 | Some developing countries that had seen strong economic growth saw significant slowdowns. For example, growth forecasts in Cambodia show a fall from more than 10% in 2007 to close to zero in 2009, and Kenya may achieve only 3–4% growth in 2009, down from 7% in 2007. According to the research by the Overseas Development... | [
{
"answer": "close to zero",
"question": "What is the growth forecast for Cambodia in 2009?"
},
{
"answer": "$251 billion",
"question": "How much were remittances sent from migrant workers in 2007?"
},
{
"answer": "300,000",
"question": "How many people live below the poverty line in... |
1,586 | The World Bank reported in February 2009 that the Arab World was far less severely affected by the credit crunch. With generally good balance of payments positions coming into the crisis or with alternative sources of financing for their large current account deficits, such as remittances, Foreign Direct Investment (FD... | [
{
"answer": "Arab World",
"question": "What area of the world was less severely affected by the credit crunch according to The World Bank report In February 2009?"
},
{
"answer": "Foreign Direct Investment",
"question": "What does the abbreviation FDI stand for?"
},
{
"answer": "global d... |
1,587 | The output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States—decreased at an annual rate of approximately 6% in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, versus activity in the year-ago periods. The U.S. unemployment rate increased to 10.1% by October 2009, the highest rate s... | [
{
"answer": "10.1%",
"question": "What was the U.S. unemployment rate in October 2009?"
},
{
"answer": "33",
"question": "What was the average hours per work week in October 2009?"
},
{
"answer": "6%",
"question": "What was the annual rate of decrease for the output of goods and serv... |
1,588 | European regulators introduced Basel III regulations for banks. It increased capital ratios, limits on leverage, narrow definition of capital (to exclude subordinated debt), limit counter-party risk, and new liquidity requirements. Critics argue that Basel III doesn’t address the problem of faulty risk-weightings. Majo... | [
{
"answer": "faulty risk-weightings",
"question": "Critics argue that Basel III doesn't address which problem?"
},
{
"answer": "financial engineering",
"question": "What term describes creating risk-free assets out of high risk collateral?"
},
{
"answer": "Basel III regulations",
"qu... |
1,589 | The U.S. recession that began in December 2007 ended in June 2009, according to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the financial crisis appears to have ended about the same time. In April 2009 TIME magazine declared "More Quickly Than It Began, The Banking Crisis Is Over." The United States Financ... | [
{
"answer": "June 2009",
"question": "When did the U.S. recession that began in December 2007 end?"
},
{
"answer": "June 2009",
"question": "When did the financial crisis appear to have ended?"
},
{
"answer": "2008",
"question": "When does the United States Financial Crisis Inquiry C... |
1,590 | Advanced economies led global economic growth prior to the financial crisis with "emerging" and "developing" economies lagging behind. The crisis completely overturned this relationship. The International Monetary Fund found that "advanced" economies accounted for only 31% of global GDP while emerging and developing ec... | [
{
"answer": "\"emerging\" and \"developing\" economies",
"question": "Who led global economic growth after the financial crisis?"
},
{
"answer": "69%",
"question": "How much global GDP did emerging and developing economies account for from 2007 to 2014?"
},
{
"answer": "global economic g... |
1,591 | Krugman's contention (that the growth of a commercial real estate bubble indicates that U.S. housing policy was not the cause of the crisis) is challenged by additional analysis. After researching the default of commercial loans during the financial crisis, Xudong An and Anthony B. Sanders reported (in December 2010): ... | [
{
"answer": "Krugman",
"question": "Who believed that the growth of the commercial real estate bubble indicated that U.S. housing policy was not the cause of the crisis?"
},
{
"answer": "December 2010",
"question": "When did Xudong An and Anthony B. Sanders issue a report about commercial mortga... |
1,592 | In a Peabody Award winning program, NPR correspondents argued that a "Giant Pool of Money" (represented by $70 trillion in worldwide fixed income investments) sought higher yields than those offered by U.S. Treasury bonds early in the decade. This pool of money had roughly doubled in size from 2000 to 2007, yet the sup... | [
{
"answer": "collateralized debt obligation",
"question": "What is one investment assigned safe ratings by the credit rating agencies?"
},
{
"answer": "$70 trillion",
"question": "How much was invested worldwide in fixed income investments?"
},
{
"answer": "roughly doubled in size",
... |
1,593 | The collateralized debt obligation in particular enabled financial institutions to obtain investor funds to finance subprime and other lending, extending or increasing the housing bubble and generating large fees. This essentially places cash payments from multiple mortgages or other debt obligations into a single pool... | [
{
"answer": "collateralized debt obligation",
"question": "What is the name of the securities that enabled financial institutions to obtain investor funds to finance subprime?"
},
{
"answer": "extending or increasing the housing bubble",
"question": "What was the outcome of collateralized debt o... |
1,594 | By September 2008, average U.S. housing prices had declined by over 20% from their mid-2006 peak. As prices declined, borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages could not refinance to avoid the higher payments associated with rising interest rates and began to default. During 2007, lenders began foreclosure proceedings o... | [
{
"answer": "over 20%",
"question": "How much had average U.S. housing prices declined by September 2008?"
},
{
"answer": "mid-2006",
"question": "When was the peak of U.S. housing prices?"
},
{
"answer": "nearly 1.3 million",
"question": "How many foreclosure proceedings were initia... |
1,595 | Lower interest rates encouraged borrowing. From 2000 to 2003, the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate target from 6.5% to 1.0%. This was done to soften the effects of the collapse of the dot-com bubble and the September 2001 terrorist attacks, as well as to combat a perceived risk of deflation. As early as 2... | [
{
"answer": "1.0%",
"question": "Was was the federal funds rate target lowered to by the Federal Reserve in 2003?"
},
{
"answer": "to combat a perceived risk of deflation",
"question": "What is one reason the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate target to 1.0% in 2003?"
},
{
"a... |
1,596 | Bernanke explained that between 1996 and 2004, the U.S. current account deficit increased by $650 billion, from 1.5% to 5.8% of GDP. Financing these deficits required the country to borrow large sums from abroad, much of it from countries running trade surpluses. These were mainly the emerging economies in Asia and oil... | [
{
"answer": "$650 billion",
"question": "Per Bernanke, how much did the U.S. current account deficit increase between 1996 and 2004?"
},
{
"answer": "5.8%",
"question": "What percentage of GDP was the U.S. current account deficit in 2004?"
},
{
"answer": "Asia and oil-exporting nations",... |
1,597 | The Fed then raised the Fed funds rate significantly between July 2004 and July 2006. This contributed to an increase in 1-year and 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) rates, making ARM interest rate resets more expensive for homeowners. This may have also contributed to the deflating of the housing bubble, as asset ... | [
{
"answer": "July 2004",
"question": "When did the Fed begin raising Fed funds rate significantly?"
},
{
"answer": "adjustable-rate mortgage",
"question": "What does ARM stand for:"
},
{
"answer": "inversely",
"question": "How do asset prices generally move in relation to interest ra... |
1,598 | Testimony given to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission by Richard M. Bowen III on events during his tenure as the Business Chief Underwriter for Correspondent Lending in the Consumer Lending Group for Citigroup (where he was responsible for over 220 professional underwriters) suggests that by the final years of the... | [
{
"answer": "Citigroup",
"question": "Richard M. Bowen III testified to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission regarding his tenure at which financial institution?"
},
{
"answer": "220",
"question": "How many underwriters was Richard M. Bowen III responsible for at Citigroup?"
},
{
"ans... |
1,599 | In separate testimony to Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, officers of Clayton Holdings—the largest residential loan due diligence and securitization surveillance company in the United States and Europe—testified that Clayton's review of over 900,000 mortgages issued from January 2006 to June 2007 revealed that scar... | [
{
"answer": "Clayton Holdings",
"question": "Who was the largest residential loan due diligence and securitization surveillance company?"
},
{
"answer": "54%",
"question": "According to Clayton Holdings, how many mortgages issued from January 2006 to June 2007 met underwriting standards?"
},
... |
1,600 | Predatory lending refers to the practice of unscrupulous lenders, enticing borrowers to enter into "unsafe" or "unsound" secured loans for inappropriate purposes. A classic bait-and-switch method was used by Countrywide Financial, advertising low interest rates for home refinancing. Such loans were written into extensi... | [
{
"answer": "Predatory lending",
"question": "What is the name for lending that entices borrowers to enter into unsafe secured loans?"
},
{
"answer": "Countrywide Financial",
"question": "What company used a classic bait-and-switch method by advertising low interest rates?"
},
{
"answer"... |
1,601 | Countrywide, sued by California Attorney General Jerry Brown for "unfair business practices" and "false advertising" was making high cost mortgages "to homeowners with weak credit, adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) that allowed homeowners to make interest-only payments". When housing prices decreased, homeowners in ARMs... | [
{
"answer": "California Attorney General Jerry Brown",
"question": "Who sued Countrywide for unfair business practices and false advertising?"
},
{
"answer": "adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs)",
"question": "What type mortgages allowed homeowners to make interest-only payments?"
},
{
"ans... |
1,602 | Critics such as economist Paul Krugman and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have argued that the regulatory framework did not keep pace with financial innovation, such as the increasing importance of the shadow banking system, derivatives and off-balance sheet financing. A recent OECD study suggest that bank re... | [
{
"answer": "Paul Krugman",
"question": "What economist believed that regulations did not keep up with financial innovation?"
},
{
"answer": "Timothy Geithner",
"question": "Who was the U.S. Treasury Secretary dealing with the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007?"
},
{
"answer": "O... |
1,603 | Prior to the crisis, financial institutions became highly leveraged, increasing their appetite for risky investments and reducing their resilience in case of losses. Much of this leverage was achieved using complex financial instruments such as off-balance sheet securitization and derivatives, which made it difficult f... | [
{
"answer": "became highly leveraged",
"question": "What did financial institutions do prior to the crisis?"
},
{
"answer": "complex",
"question": "What type financial instruments are off-balance sheet securitization and derivatives?"
},
{
"answer": "government",
"question": "Who bai... |
1,604 | From 2004 to 2007, the top five U.S. investment banks each significantly increased their financial leverage (see diagram), which increased their vulnerability to a financial shock. Changes in capital requirements, intended to keep U.S. banks competitive with their European counterparts, allowed lower risk weightings fo... | [
{
"answer": "five",
"question": "How many U.S. investment banks significantly increased their financial leverage from 2004 to 2007?"
},
{
"answer": "financial shock",
"question": "U.S. investment banks Increased their financial leverage and also increased their vulnerability to what?"
},
{
... |
1,605 | Behavior that may be optimal for an individual (e.g., saving more during adverse economic conditions) can be detrimental if too many individuals pursue the same behavior, as ultimately one person's consumption is another person's income. Too many consumers attempting to save (or pay down debt) simultaneously is called ... | [
{
"answer": "saving more during adverse economic conditions",
"question": "What is an example of something that can be detrimental if too many individuals pursue the same behavior?"
},
{
"answer": "paradox of thrift",
"question": "What is it called when too many consumers attempt to save or pay ... |
1,606 | During April 2009, U.S. Federal Reserve vice-chair Janet Yellen discussed these paradoxes: "Once this massive credit crunch hit, it didn’t take long before we were in a recession. The recession, in turn, deepened the credit crunch as demand and employment fell, and credit losses of financial institutions surged. Indeed... | [
{
"answer": "Janet Yellen",
"question": "Who was the U.S. Federal Reserve vice-chair in April 2009?"
},
{
"answer": "we were in a recession",
"question": "What happened soon after the massive credit crunch hit?"
},
{
"answer": "recession",
"question": "What deepened the credit crunch... |
1,607 | The term financial innovation refers to the ongoing development of financial products designed to achieve particular client objectives, such as offsetting a particular risk exposure (such as the default of a borrower) or to assist with obtaining financing. Examples pertinent to this crisis included: the adjustable-rate... | [
{
"answer": "financial innovation",
"question": "What term refers to the ongoing development of financial products?"
},
{
"answer": "adjustable-rate mortgage",
"question": "What is an example of financial innovation pertinent to the financial crisis?"
},
{
"answer": "CDS",
"question"... |
1,608 | CDO issuance grew from an estimated $20 billion in Q1 2004 to its peak of over $180 billion by Q1 2007, then declined back under $20 billion by Q1 2008. Further, the credit quality of CDO's declined from 2000 to 2007, as the level of subprime and other non-prime mortgage debt increased from 5% to 36% of CDO assets. As ... | [
{
"answer": "Q1 2007",
"question": "When did the issuance of CDO peak?"
},
{
"answer": "$20 billion",
"question": "What was the estimated value of CDO issuance in Q1 2004?"
},
{
"answer": "over $180 billion",
"question": "What was the estimated value of CDO issuance at it's peak in Q... |
1,609 | This boom in innovative financial products went hand in hand with more complexity. It multiplied the number of actors connected to a single mortgage (including mortgage brokers, specialized originators, the securitizers and their due diligence firms, managing agents and trading desks, and finally investors, insurances ... | [
{
"answer": "innovative financial products",
"question": "Which products created more complexity in the financial markets?"
},
{
"answer": "multiplied the number of actors connected",
"question": "What effect did the introduction of innovative financial products have on a single mortgage?"
},
... |
1,610 | The pricing of risk refers to the incremental compensation required by investors for taking on additional risk, which may be measured by interest rates or fees. Several scholars have argued that a lack of transparency about banks' risk exposures prevented markets from correctly pricing risk before the crisis, enabled t... | [
{
"answer": "interest rates or fees",
"question": "What is a measurement of pricing of risk?"
},
{
"answer": "pricing of risk",
"question": "What is the incremental compensation required by investors for taking on addition risk called?"
},
{
"answer": "lack of transparency about banks' r... |
1,611 | For a variety of reasons, market participants did not accurately measure the risk inherent with financial innovation such as MBS and CDOs or understand its impact on the overall stability of the financial system. For example, the pricing model for CDOs clearly did not reflect the level of risk they introduced into the ... | [
{
"answer": "risk inherent with financial innovation",
"question": "What did market participants fail to measure accurately?"
},
{
"answer": "a variety of reasons",
"question": "What are the reasons market participants did not understand the impact financial innovation products would have?"
},... |
1,612 | Another example relates to AIG, which insured obligations of various financial institutions through the usage of credit default swaps. The basic CDS transaction involved AIG receiving a premium in exchange for a promise to pay money to party A in the event party B defaulted. However, AIG did not have the financial stre... | [
{
"answer": "AIG",
"question": "What firm insured obligations of various financial institutions using credit default swaps?"
},
{
"answer": "credit default swaps",
"question": "What does the abbreviation CDS stand for?"
},
{
"answer": "September 2008",
"question": "When did the gover... |
1,613 | As financial assets became more and more complex, and harder and harder to value, investors were reassured by the fact that both the international bond rating agencies and bank regulators, who came to rely on them, accepted as valid some complex mathematical models which theoretically showed the risks were much smaller... | [
{
"answer": "George Soros",
"question": "Who commented that the super-boom got out of hand when products became so complicated that risk could not be accurately calculated?"
},
{
"answer": "more complex",
"question": "What happened to financial assets that made them harder to value?"
},
{
... |
1,614 | Despite the dominance of the above formula, there are documented attempts of the financial industry, occurring before the crisis, to address the formula limitations, specifically the lack of dependence dynamics and the poor representation of extreme events. The volume "Credit Correlation: Life After Copulas", published... | [
{
"answer": "World Scientific",
"question": "Who published \"Credit Correlation: Life After Copulas\" in 2007?"
},
{
"answer": "2006",
"question": "When did relevant warnings and research on CDOs appear in an article by Donnelly and Embrechts?"
},
{
"answer": "Merrill Lynch",
"questi... |
1,615 | In a June 2008 speech, President and CEO of the New York Federal Reserve Bank Timothy Geithner—who in 2009 became Secretary of the United States Treasury—placed significant blame for the freezing of credit markets on a "run" on the entities in the "parallel" banking system, also called the shadow banking system. These ... | [
{
"answer": "Timothy Geithner",
"question": "Who was President and CEO of the New York Federal Reserve Bank in June 2008?"
},
{
"answer": "2009",
"question": "What year did Timothy Geithner become U.S. Treasury Secretary?"
},
{
"answer": "\"parallel\" banking system",
"question": "In... |
1,616 | The securitization markets supported by the shadow banking system started to close down in the spring of 2007 and nearly shut-down in the fall of 2008. More than a third of the private credit markets thus became unavailable as a source of funds. According to the Brookings Institution, the traditional banking system doe... | [
{
"answer": "spring of 2007",
"question": "When did the securitization markets supported by the shadow banking systems start to close down?"
},
{
"answer": "fall of 2008",
"question": "When did the securitization markets supported by the shadow banking system nearly shut-down completely?"
},
... |
1,617 | Economist Mark Zandi testified to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in January 2010: "The securitization markets also remain impaired, as investors anticipate more loan losses. Investors are also uncertain about coming legal and accounting rule changes and regulatory reforms. Private bond issuance of residential ... | [
{
"answer": "Mark Zandi",
"question": "What economist testified to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in January 2010?"
},
{
"answer": "securitization markets",
"question": "In January 2010, what markets did Mark Zandi testify about that remain impaired and investors anticipate more loan lo... |
1,618 | Rapid increases in a number of commodity prices followed the collapse in the housing bubble. The price of oil nearly tripled from $50 to $147 from early 2007 to 2008, before plunging as the financial crisis began to take hold in late 2008. Experts debate the causes, with some attributing it to speculative flow of money... | [
{
"answer": "Rapid increases",
"question": "Following the collapse in the housing bubble, what happened to a number of commodity prices?"
},
{
"answer": "nearly tripled from $50 to $147",
"question": "How much did the price of oil increase from early 2007 to 2008?"
},
{
"answer": "plungi... |
1,619 | In testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on June 3, 2008, former director of the CFTC Division of Trading & Markets (responsible for enforcement) Michael Greenberger specifically named the Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange, founded by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and BP as... | [
{
"answer": "Michael Greenberger",
"question": "Who was the former director of the CFTC that testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on June 3, 2008?"
},
{
"answer": "IntercontinentalExchange",
"question": "Who did Michael Greenberger erronesously name as a... |
1,620 | Feminist economists Ailsa McKay and Margunn Bjørnholt argue that the financial crisis and the response to it revealed a crisis of ideas in mainstream economics and within the economics profession, and call for a reshaping of both the economy, economic theory and the economics profession. They argue that such a reshapin... | [
{
"answer": "Ailsa McKay",
"question": "Who is one of the feminist economists that believe the financial crisis revealed a crisis of mainstream economics and call for a complete reshaping of the economy?"
},
{
"answer": "mainstream economics",
"question": "Feminist economists Ailsa McKay and Mar... |
1,621 | Current Governor of the Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan had predicted the crisis in 2005 when he became chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.In 2005, at a celebration honouring Alan Greenspan, who was about to retire as chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Rajan delivered a controversial paper that wa... | [
{
"answer": "Raghuram Rajan",
"question": "Who was the current Governor of the Reserve Bank of India that predicted the crisis in 2005?"
},
{
"answer": "2005",
"question": "When did Raghuram Rajan become chief economist the the International Monetary Fund?"
},
{
"answer": "at a celebrati... |
1,622 | The financial crisis was not widely predicted by mainstream economists except Raghuram Rajan, who instead spoke of the Great Moderation. A number of heterodox economists predicted the crisis, with varying arguments. Dirk Bezemer in his research credits (with supporting argument and estimates of timing) 12 economists wi... | [
{
"answer": "Raghuram Rajan",
"question": "Who was one of the only mainstream economist to predict the financial crisis?"
},
{
"answer": "Great Moderation",
"question": "What did Raghuram Rajan speak of?"
},
{
"answer": "Dirk Bezemer",
"question": "Who credit 12 heterodox economists ... |
1,623 | A cover story in BusinessWeek magazine claims that economists mostly failed to predict the worst international economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania's online business journal examines why economists failed to predict a major global financial crisis... | [
{
"answer": "BusinessWeek",
"question": "Which magazine ran a cover story claiming that most economists failed to the the financial crisis?"
},
{
"answer": "Great Depression",
"question": "The financial crisis of 2007 was the worst economic crisis since which crisis that occurred in the 1930s?"
... |
1,624 | Stock trader and financial risk engineer Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the 2007 book The Black Swan, spent years warning against the breakdown of the banking system in particular and the economy in general owing to their use of bad risk models and reliance on forecasting, and their reliance on bad models, and framed... | [
{
"answer": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb",
"question": "Who wrote the 2007 book The Black Swan?"
},
{
"answer": "David Brooks",
"question": "What journalist from the New York Times stated his believe in Nassim Nicholas Taleb?"
},
{
"answer": "the breakdown of the banking system",
"question... |
1,625 | Market strategist Phil Dow believes distinctions exist "between the current market malaise" and the Great Depression. He says the Dow Jones average's fall of more than 50% over a period of 17 months is similar to a 54.7% fall in the Great Depression, followed by a total drop of 89% over the following 16 months. "It's v... | [
{
"answer": "Phil Dow",
"question": "Who is the market strategist that believes distinctions exist between the current crisis and the Great Depression?"
},
{
"answer": "50%",
"question": "How much did the Dow Jones average fall during a period of 17 months?"
},
{
"answer": "54.7%",
"... |
1,626 | One of the first victims was Northern Rock, a medium-sized British bank. The highly leveraged nature of its business led the bank to request security from the Bank of England. This in turn led to investor panic and a bank run in mid-September 2007. Calls by Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman Vince Cable to nationalise... | [
{
"answer": "Northern Rock",
"question": "Which medium sized British bank was the first victim of the financial crisis?"
},
{
"answer": "Bank of England",
"question": "Who did Northern Rock request security from?"
},
{
"answer": "September 2007",
"question": "When did Northern Rock i... |
1,627 | IndyMac often made loans without verification of the borrower’s income or assets, and to borrowers with poor credit histories. Appraisals obtained by IndyMac on underlying collateral were often questionable as well. As an Alt-A lender, IndyMac’s business model was to offer loan products to fit the borrower’s needs, usi... | [
{
"answer": "the borrower’s income",
"question": "IndyMac often made loans without verifying what?"
},
{
"answer": "Appraisals",
"question": "What was questionable on IndyMac's underlying collateral?"
},
{
"answer": "poor",
"question": "IndyMac gave loans to borrower's with what type... |
1,628 | Typical American families did not fare as well, nor did those "wealthy-but-not wealthiest" families just beneath the pyramid's top. On the other hand, half of the poorest families did not have wealth declines at all during the crisis. The Federal Reserve surveyed 4,000 households between 2007 and 2009, and found that t... | [
{
"answer": "half",
"question": "How many of the poorest families did not have any wealth decline during the financial crisis?"
},
{
"answer": "63",
"question": "In a Federal Reserve survey of 4,000 households, what percent reported wealth decline between 2007 and 2009?"
},
{
"answer": "... |
1,629 | On November 3, 2008, the European Commission at Brussels predicted for 2009 an extremely weak growth of GDP, by 0.1%, for the countries of the Eurozone (France, Germany, Italy, Belgium etc.) and even negative number for the UK (−1.0%), Ireland and Spain. On November 6, the IMF at Washington, D.C., launched numbers pred... | [
{
"answer": "European Commission at Brussels",
"question": "On November 3, 2008, who predicted extremely weak GDP growth for the Eurozone in 2009?"
},
{
"answer": "0.1%",
"question": "How much did the European Commission estimate the GDP growth for Eurozone countries would be in 2009?"
},
{
... |
1,630 | The U.S. Federal Reserve and central banks around the world have taken steps to expand money supplies to avoid the risk of a deflationary spiral, in which lower wages and higher unemployment lead to a self-reinforcing decline in global consumption. In addition, governments have enacted large fiscal stimulus packages, b... | [
{
"answer": "expand money supplies",
"question": "What have central banks around the world done to avoid the risk of a deflationary spiral?"
},
{
"answer": "enacted large fiscal stimulus packages",
"question": "What have governments done to offset the reduction in private sector demand?"
},
... |
1,632 | United States President Barack Obama and key advisers introduced a series of regulatory proposals in June 2009. The proposals address consumer protection, executive pay, bank financial cushions or capital requirements, expanded regulation of the shadow banking system and derivatives, and enhanced authority for the Fede... | [
{
"answer": "a series of regulatory proposals",
"question": "What was introduced by President Barack Obama in June 2009?"
},
{
"answer": "consumer protection",
"question": "What was one of the items important to consumers that was addressed by the new regulatory proposals introduced in June 2009... |
1,633 | The U.S. Senate passed a reform bill in May 2010, following the House which passed a bill in December 2009. These bills must now be reconciled. The New York Times provided a comparative summary of the features of the two bills, which address to varying extent the principles enumerated by the Obama administration. For i... | [
{
"answer": "May 2010",
"question": "When did the U.S. Senate first pass a financial reform bill?"
},
{
"answer": "December 2009",
"question": "When did the U.S. House first pass a financial reform bill?"
},
{
"answer": "Volcker Rule",
"question": "What rule against proprietary tradi... |
1,634 | It threatened the collapse of large financial institutions, which was prevented by the bailout of banks by national governments, but stock markets still dropped worldwide. In many areas, the housing market also suffered, resulting in evictions, foreclosures and prolonged unemployment. The crisis played a significant ro... | [
{
"answer": "bailout of banks",
"question": "What action in 2007 by national governments prevented the collapse of large financial institutions?"
},
{
"answer": "trillions of U.S. dollars",
"question": "How much estimated consumer wealth was lost as a result of the financial crisis of 2007?"
}... |
1,635 | The bursting of the U.S. (United States) housing bubble, which peaked in 2004, caused the values of securities tied to U.S. real estate pricing to plummet, damaging financial institutions globally. The financial crisis was triggered by a complex interplay of policies that encouraged home ownership, providing easier acc... | [
{
"answer": "2004",
"question": "What year did the U.S. housing bubble peak?"
},
{
"answer": "2009",
"question": "What year did Congress pass the American Recover and Reinvestment Act?"
},
{
"answer": "escalate",
"question": "Overvaluation of bundled subprime mortgages was based on t... |
1,637 | As part of the housing and credit booms, the number of financial agreements called mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO), which derived their value from mortgage payments and housing prices, greatly increased. Such financial innovation enabled institutions and investors around the w... | [
{
"answer": "mortgage-backed securities",
"question": "What are MBS as related to the housing and credit booms?"
},
{
"answer": "collateralized debt obligations",
"question": "What are CDO as related to the housing and credit booms?"
},
{
"answer": "major global financial institutions",
... |
1,638 | Falling prices also resulted in homes worth less than the mortgage loan, providing a financial incentive to enter foreclosure. The ongoing foreclosure epidemic that began in late 2006 in the U.S. continues to drain wealth from consumers and erodes the financial strength of banking institutions. Defaults and losses on o... | [
{
"answer": "trillions of U.S. dollars",
"question": "How much are total losses estimated to be from falling home prices?"
},
{
"answer": "foreclosure",
"question": "What is the financial incentive when a home is worth less than the mortgage loan?"
},
{
"answer": "late 2006",
"questi... |
1,639 | While the housing and credit bubbles were building, a series of factors caused the financial system to both expand and become increasingly fragile, a process called financialization. U.S. Government policy from the 1970s onward has emphasized deregulation to encourage business, which resulted in less oversight of activ... | [
{
"answer": "investment banks and hedge funds",
"question": "What institutions comprise the shadow banking system?"
},
{
"answer": "investment banks and hedge funds",
"question": "What institutions are not subject to the same regulations as commercial banks?"
},
{
"answer": "financializa... |
1,640 | These institutions, as well as certain regulated banks, had also assumed significant debt burdens while providing the loans described above and did not have a financial cushion sufficient to absorb large loan defaults or MBS losses. These losses impacted the ability of financial institutions to lend, slowing economic a... | [
{
"answer": "MBS",
"question": "Some regulated banks did not have sufficient financial cushions in place to absorb what losses as a result of the financial crisis of 2007?"
},
{
"answer": "slowing economic activity",
"question": "What was a consequence of the large loan defaults and MBS losses i... |
1,641 | The U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission reported its findings in January 2011. It concluded that "the crisis was avoidable and was caused by: widespread failures in financial regulation, including the Federal Reserve’s failure to stem the tide of toxic mortgages; dramatic breakdowns in corporate governance includi... | [
{
"answer": "January 2011",
"question": "When did the U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report its findings?"
},
{
"answer": "the crisis was avoidable and was caused by: widespread failures in financial regulation",
"question": "What was one of the conclusions of the U.S. Financial Crisi... |
1,642 | During a period of tough competition between mortgage lenders for revenue and market share, and when the supply of creditworthy borrowers was limited, mortgage lenders relaxed underwriting standards and originated riskier mortgages to less creditworthy borrowers. In the view of some analysts, the relatively conservativ... | [
{
"answer": "tough competition",
"question": "What caused mortgage lenders to relax underwriting standards and approve riskier mortgages?"
},
{
"answer": "2003",
"question": "In what year were high underwriting standards relaxed?"
},
{
"answer": "2004–2007",
"question": "What years w... |
1,643 | The majority report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, written by the six Democratic appointees, the minority report, written by 3 of the 4 Republican appointees, studies by Federal Reserve economists, and the work of several independent scholars generally contend that government affordable housing policy was ... | [
{
"answer": "six",
"question": "How many Democratic appointees wrote the majority report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission?"
},
{
"answer": "Paul Krugman",
"question": "Who claimed that the GSE never purchased subprime loans - a claim that is widely disputed?"
},
{
"answer": "go... |
1,644 | In his dissent to the majority report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, American Enterprise Institute fellow Peter J. Wallison stated his belief that the roots of the financial crisis can be traced directly and primarily to affordable housing policies initiated by HUD in the 1990s and to massive risky loan pu... | [
{
"answer": "13 million",
"question": "How many estimated substandard loans did Fannie and Freddie have in 2008? "
},
{
"answer": "over $2 trillion",
"question": "What was the value of the estimated 13 million substandard loans held by Fannie and Freddie in 2008?"
},
{
"answer": "Fannie ... |
1,645 | In the early and mid-2000s, the Bush administration called numerous times for investigation into the safety and soundness of the GSEs and their swelling portfolio of subprime mortgages. On September 10, 2003, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing at the urging of the administration to assess safety and ... | [
{
"answer": "Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO)",
"question": "Who uncovered accounting discrepancies in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?"
},
{
"answer": "Bush administration",
"question": "Which administration called for investigation into the soundness of GSEs in the early and m... |
1,647 | To other analysts the delay between CRA rule changes (in 1995) and the explosion of subprime lending is not surprising, and does not exonerate the CRA. They contend that there were two, connected causes to the crisis: the relaxation of underwriting standards in 1995 and the ultra-low interest rates initiated by the Fed... | [
{
"answer": "1995",
"question": "When did CRA make rule changes to relax underwriting standards?"
},
{
"answer": "$4.5 trillion",
"question": "How much were CRA loan commitments between 1994 and 2007?"
},
{
"answer": "high-interest-rate loans (3 percentage points over average)",
"que... |
1,648 | Others have pointed out that there were not enough of these loans made to cause a crisis of this magnitude. In an article in Portfolio Magazine, Michael Lewis spoke with one trader who noted that "There weren’t enough Americans with [bad] credit taking out [bad loans] to satisfy investors' appetite for the end product.... | [
{
"answer": "credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations and synthetic CDOs.",
"question": "What financial innovation enabled investment banks and hedge funds to make large wagers?"
},
{
"answer": "derivatives",
"question": "Credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations and CDO... |
1,649 | Countering Krugman, Peter J. Wallison wrote: "It is not true that every bubble—even a large bubble—has the potential to cause a financial crisis when it deflates." Wallison notes that other developed countries had "large bubbles during the 1997–2007 period" but "the losses associated with mortgage delinquencies and def... | [
{
"answer": "substandard",
"question": "Peter J. Wallison believes that the huge number of these loans led to the financial crisis?"
},
{
"answer": "low or no downpayments",
"question": "What type downpayments do substandard loans generally have?"
},
{
"answer": "it was supported by a hu... |
1,650 | Located approximately 250 kilometres (160 mi) east of Puerto Rico and the nearer Virgin Islands, St. Barthélemy lies immediately southeast of the islands of Saint Martin and Anguilla. It is one of the Renaissance Islands. St. Barthélemy is separated from Saint Martin by the Saint-Barthélemy Channel. It lies northeast o... | [
{
"answer": "160",
"question": "How many Miles East of Puerto Rico is St. Barts?"
},
{
"answer": "the Saint-Barthélemy Channel",
"question": "What lies between St. Barts and Saint Martin island?"
},
{
"answer": "little Turtle rocks",
"question": "What does \"Roques\" mean in English?... |
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