Changes

**Mishkin and White 2002: The description of the fifteen episodes of twentieth century stock market crashes suggests that we can place them into four categories. 1. Episodes in which the crashes did not appear to put stress on the financial system because interest-rate spreads did not widen appreciably. These include the crashes of 1903, 1940, 1946, 1962 and 2000. 2. Episodes in which the crashes were extremely sharp and which put stress on the 31 financial system, but where there was little widening of spreads subsequently because of intervention by the Federal Reserve to keep the financial system functioning in the wake of these crashes. These include the crashes of 1929 and 1987. 3. Episodes in which the crashes were associated with large increases in spreads suggesting severe financial distress. These include the crashes of 1907, 1930-33, 1937,1973-74. 4. Episodes in which the crashes were associated with increases in spreads that were not as large as in the third category, suggesting some financial distress. These include the crashes of 1917, 1920, 1969-70 and 1990.