In this article, we use the original ledgers of the Bank of England to document which institutions received liquidity during the crisis of 1866. The so-called Overend-Gurney panic is when the Bank began adopting lending of last resort policies (Bignon, Flandreau and Ugolini 2011). We compare...

When faced with a run on a "systemically important" but insolvent bank in 1889, the Banque de France pre-emptively organized a lifeboat to ensure that depositors were protected and an orderly liquidation could proceed. To protect the Banque from losses on its lifeboat loan, a guarantee syndicate...

We study interventions to restore efficient lending and investment when financial markets fail because of adverse selection. We solve a design problem where the decision to participate in a program offered by the government can be a signal for private information. We charac terize optimal...

This paper makes a case that the global imbalances of the 2000s and the recent global financial crisis are intimately connected. Both have their origins in economic policies followed in a number of countries in the 2000s and in distortions that influenced the transmission of these policies...

In this paper we use a Markov-switching vector autoregressive model to analyse the interest rate pass-through between interbank and retail bank rates in the Euro area. Empirical results, based on monthly data for the period 2003–2011, show that during periods of financial distress bank lending...

The Federal Reserve re-established a swap line with the European Central Bank in response to the international liquidity stresses created by the euro area sovereign debt crisis. We examine the swap line's effectiveness in addressing these stresses in 2010–11. We find that announcements about...

This report identifies a set of policy lessons for China today drawn from the experience of financial deregulation, financial crisis, and recovery in Scandinavia during the period 1985–2000. Although there are considerable differences between the huge Chinese economy and the small Nordic...

AbstractThe following sections are included:IntroductionThe Central Bank's Legitimacy When It Has a Financial Stability RoleThe political nature of the central bank's financial stability roleThe perceived legitimacy of the Eurosystem as provider of financial stabilityThe Eurosystem's output...

AbstractThe following sections are included:IntroductionFinancial Instability in the 1920sConvoy System to Prevent Bank FailuresBank of Japan After the New Bank of Japan Act of 1998Monetary Policy and Prudential PolicyLessons from the Experiences of the Bank of JapanReferences

AbstractWe have before us in the session three different and yet complementary “takes” on what is meant by the social productivity of the financial sector, and three calls, directly or indirectly, for further research. Ross Levine looks at the ways that finance adds to social welfare by...