View source for Finance:Sweden financial crisis 1990–1994

The '''Sweden financial crisis 1990–1994''' was a [[Finance:Housing bubble|housing bubble]] that took place in Sweden that deflated during 1991 and 1992, and resulted in a severe [[Finance:Credit crunch|credit crunch]] and widespread bank [[Finance:Insolvency|insolvency]]. Similar crises took place in other countries around the same time, such as [[Finance:Finnish banking crisis of 1990s|in Finland]] and the Savings and loan crisis in the {{wipe|United States}}. The causes of the crisis were similar to those of the [[Finance:Subprime mortgage crisis|subprime mortgage crisis]] of 2007–2008. In response, the government took the following actions:<ref>{{cite news |title=Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way |first=Carter |last=Dougherty |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/business/worldbusiness/23krona.html?_r=0 |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |date=22 September 2008 |access-date=4 October 2012}}</ref>

* The government announced the state would guarantee all bank deposits and creditors of the nation's 114 banks.
* Sweden's government assumed [[Finance:Bad bank|bad bank]] debts, but banks had to write down losses and issue an ownership interest ([[Finance:Common stock|common stock]]) to the government. Shareholders at the remaining large banks were diluted by private recapitalizations (meaning that they sold equity to new investors).  Bondholders at all banks were protected.
* Nordbanken and Götabanken were granted financial support and nationalized at a cost of 64 billion kronor.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Nordic Banking Crisis: Pitfalls in Financial Liberalization |last1=Drees |first1=Burkhard |last2=Pazarbasioglu |first2=Ceyla |year=1998 |publisher=International Monetary Fund |isbn=1-55775-700-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/nordicbankingcri0000dree }}</ref> The firms' bad debts were transferred to the asset-management companies Securum and Retriva  which sold off the assets, mainly real estate, that the banks held as collateral for these debts.
* When distressed assets were later sold, the proceeds flowed to the state, and the government was able to recoup more money later by selling its shares in the nationalized banks in public offerings.
* Sweden formed the Bank Support Authority<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fi.se/Folder-EN/Startpage/About-FI/Who-we-are/History/ |title=History |publisher=Financial Supervisory Authority |access-date=4 October 2012}}</ref> to supervise institutions that needed recapitalization.

This bailout initially cost about 4% of Sweden's GDP, later lowered to between 0–2% of GDP depending on various assumptions due to the value of stock later sold when the nationalized banks were privatized.

In September 2008, economists Brad DeLong and [[Biography:Paul Krugman|Paul Krugman]] proposed the Swedish experiment as a model for what should be done to solve the economic crisis that was affecting the United States at the time.<ref>{{cite news |title=The good, the bad, and the ugly |first=Paul |last=Krugman |url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |date=28 September 2008 |access-date=4 October 2012}}</ref> Swedish leaders who played a role in devising the Swedish solution and have spoken about the implications for other countries include Urban Bäckström and Bo Lundgren.

==Relation to Japan==
{{wipe|Japan}}, which was struggling to handle the deflationary situation due to the [[Finance:Japanese asset price bubble|Japanese asset price bubble]], since the early 1990s, were considering restructuring their economic policies around Sweden's, during that of the Swedish financial crisis, however, such policies never took place.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bertoldi |first1=Moreno |title=Whither Japan's Economy? |date=February 2003 |issue=2003 |access-date=19 January 2021 | url=https://core.ac.uk/reader/4384471}}</ref>

==References==
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{{Financial crises}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweden financial crisis 1990-1994}}
[[Category:Banking crises]]
[[Category:Financial crises]]

{{Sourceattribution|Sweden financial crisis 1990–1994}}