Abstract

The paper describes economic crises as a term with different kinds of meanings, a term which undergoes continuous development. The way of understanding this term is intimately connected with the role of state in the sphere of economy. Before the big economic crises nobody expected the state to interfere with the economy. However, after the crises in 1930's till the end of 1970's it was considered as one of the main tasks of the state. The role of state was to prevent the crises or to reduce its negative consequences. Due to the dominant position of the economic thinking in the present-day world the meanings of the term economic crises influence also the meanings of term crises in other fields.