Resilience

The global economic and financial crisis of ­2008–2009 has raised fundamental questions about the ability of economies and societies to cope with crisis. The observation that the crisis, which started as a regional phenomenon in the United States, in a submarket (real estate and finance), was able to affect the global economy, albeit varying in intensity and duration by region, has triggered a large amount of case studies and a general discussion about why different regions have been affected in different ways. The academic discussion soon focused on a concept that had been developed for decades—resilience. This entry aims to give an overview of the concept, its evolution in research, and the current debate in the social, regional, and economic sciences.