Which term describes the severe economic downturn beginning in 2008?

• A. Occupy Wall Street
• B. Great Recession
• C. Bracero Program
• D. Bretton Woods Conference

Answer: (B)

This item is asking you to name the widely used label for the severe economic downturn that began in 2008. The Great Recession best fits. It refers to the global financial crisis sparked by a housing-market crash and banking failures, which led to massive job losses, foreclosures, and a sharp drop in economic activity from around 2007 into the following years. Governments and central banks responded with stimulus, monetary easing, and bailouts to stabilize financial systems, though effects lingered for years. The other options refer to things unrelated to a recession: Occupy Wall Street is a 2011 protest movement; the Bracero Program was a mid-20th-century guest-worker program; the Bretton Woods Conference established postwar monetary rules in 1944.