a. The financial crisis was largely caused by banks taking large positions in the options and futures markets. b. The prime cause of the financial crisis was an expansion in bank lending for the overheated commercial real estate market. c. Most subprime mortgages were packaged together by banks for resale to individual investors. d. The crisis could have been much more serious if the government had not stepped in to rescue Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers. e. The crisis in the eurozone finally ended when other eurozone countries and the IMF provided a massive bailout package to stop Greece from defaulting on its debts.