Which 2008 collapse began with the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble and spread worldwide?

The worldwide collapse that followed the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble is known as the Global Financial Crisis.

The crisis grew from falling U.S. house prices, high-risk mortgage lending, complex mortgage-linked securities, and excessive leverage across financial institutions. As borrowers defaulted and property values declined, investors questioned the value of securities held by banks and other firms.

The failure of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, intensified the panic, although the crisis had begun earlier. Credit markets tightened, stock markets plunged, and governments introduced emergency lending, guarantees, and bank-support programs. The resulting recession spread across much of the world.

The Global Financial Crisis is often grouped with the Great Recession, but the terms are not identical. The financial crisis describes the breakdown in credit and financial institutions; the Great Recession describes the broader economic downturn that followed.