The core of the global economy

Located in Lower Manhattan—at the southern tip of the island—this narrow street stretching from Broadway east to the East River has served as the nerve center of the American, and indeed the global, economy from the early modern era to the present day. It is the epicenter of an economic torrent where vast sums of capital flow in like a mighty river, only to surge back out across the globe. Wall Street—a name known to almost everyone, even those with little knowledge of economics. It is notorious as the epicenter of the devastating Great Depression 119 years ago, and for plunging nations and people worldwide into turmoil through subsequent crises: Black Monday in 1987, the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001–2002, and the infamous Lehman Shock of 2008. This area is home to key institutions of the global economy, including the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (one of the twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in the U.S.), as well as historic landmarks such as Federal Hall—the site of the first U.S. Congress—and Trinity Church.