A global economic collapse has happened before in 1345 when the Bardi and Perruzi banks went under. "The result was a disaster for the human population, which fell worldwide by something like 25 percent between 1300 and 1450 (in Europe, by somewhere between 35 percent and 50 percent from the 1340’s collapse to the 1440’s)." - How Venice Rigged The First, and Worst, Global Financial Collapse by Paul B. Gallagher for Fidelio Magazine (available online on the website of the Schiller institute).