8 October 2008: Central banks cut rates together

In an unprecedented coordinated move, the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England and several other central banks each cut interest rates by half a percentage point on the same morning. The idea was to show the world that policymakers were acting as one. Markets were unimpressed at first and kept falling. Coordination is reassuring, but it cannot instantly undo years of bad loans.

The lesson: Interest rate cuts treat the symptoms of a credit crisis faster than they cure the disease.