Almost no country has been completely spared by the crisis, however, some economically advanced countries have been hit more severely, while others have been more resilient. Indeed, the growth performance of rich countries during the Great Recession has been heterogeneous. Similarly to other countries, they experienced a sustained increase of demand in the years before the crisis, which pushed up asset prices and private debt. Yet the lack of stringent supervision and easy access to credit fueled a speculative bubble that led to bank failures, large fiscal deficits and increasing fiscal vulnerability. Since they were not able to face the negative consequences of the crisis, they asked for external support from IMF/EU/ECB and quickly accepted a process of fiscal adjustment.