Central bank large-scale asset purchases, such as the purchase of securities of nonfinancial firms, can induce a misallocation of resources through their heterogeneous effect on firm cost of capital. First, we analytically demonstrate the mechanism in a two-period model. We then evaluate the...

Using confidential loan officer survey data on lending standards and internal risk ratings on loans, we document an effect of large-scale asset purchase programs (LSAPs) on lending standards and risk-taking. We exploit cross-sectional variation in banks? holdings of mortgage-backed securities to...

During the 2007-2010 financial crisis, central banks accumulated a vast amount of experience in acting as lender of last resort. This paper reviews the various ways that central banks provided emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) during the crisis, and discusses issues for the design of ELA...