There has never been a more exciting time to study economics, given the shock to so many individuals, institutions and countries in 2007/8 when long established economic certainties were suddenly brought into question. The so-called 'credit crunch' overpowered both financial and non-financial organisations. Government bail-outs of banks and businesses became the order of the day in many countries, with massive increases in government expenditures to fund these bail-outs, quickly followed by austerity budgets aimed at restoring national debts and budget deficits to pre-credit crunch levels. Looking forward, there is as much talk about 'triple-dip' recessions as there is about recovery.