Lost Decade

Lost decades occur after severe economic crises and particularly after an economic bubble has burst. Sluggish economic growth, high unemployment and falling real-estate prices are typical phenomenons in such situations and the standards of living may take many years to be recovered to what they were used to be. The 1980’s are considered a lost decade for Latin America (La DécadaPerdida) after its debt levels spiralled out of control. Japan’s lost decade occurred in the 1990's as a result of a massive asset bubble burst. The 2000's are considered a lost decade for the United States, due to the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s followed by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the latter half of the decade.