The countries at the heart of the boom, such as the US, the UK and Spain, attracted not just capital but also people from around the globe. The good times ended abruptly – leaving governments with the challenge of managing people who came for jobs that were once plentiful but that locals are now desperate to secure.

The boom pulled in workers at all levels, from finance experts to manual workers, to the benefit of all. Mexicans filled the ranks of a US construction sector in breakneck expansion. In Spain, rural Andalucians found better jobs in the city, leaving harvesting behind for Ecuadoreans, Moroccans and Romanians. Remittances flowed back to immigrants’ home countries.