If anyone wants another viewpoint, my opinion is that the huge shift of most Western economies from production to financial services is the main cause. In a production-based economy a bank failure is going to inconvenience a lot of people, but relatively few will actually lose everything. In an economy where the main revenue stream comes from financial services a bank failure is going to have hugely disproportionate effects. It really is that simple, though I doubt that economists will necessarily agree.
Marcus L. Rowland Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
