Banks have failed throughout US history. The worst years for such failures were during the Great Depression: roughly 9,000 of about 25,000 banks failed, with nearly half of the failures occurring in 1933 alone. Depositors everywhere became concerned that their banks were on the verge of insolvency, and they rushed to withdraw their funds. This forced banks to sell off their assets at fire sale prices, thereby turning illiquidity problems into insolvency problems throughout the banking industry. The result was a major disruption in the payments system and a severe tightening of available credit, with a devastating impact on economic activity.