When assets exhibit asymmetric dependence or joint downside risk, diversificationcan fail and financial markets may be prone to systemic risk. We analyze thedependence structure of risk factors in the US economy, using both correlations anda parsimonious set of copulas. We find evidence of...

A central role for economic policy involves understanding and reducing the impact of unexpected,extreme events. In this paper, we develop a simple economic framework with latentregime switches. This framework explains why investors and policymakers can decide not tohedge against extreme events,...

Is there any need to “clean” up a banking system in the midst of a crisis, by closing or recapitalizing weak banks and taking bad assets off bank balance sheets, or can one wait till the crisis is over? We argue that an “overhang” of impaired banks that may be forced to sell assets soon...

Among the policy responses to the global financial crisis, the international provision of US dollars via central bank swap lines stands out. This paper studies the build-up of stresses on banks' balance sheets that led to this coordinated policy response. Using the BIS international banking...

Bailing out banks requires overcoming debt overhang as well as dealing with adverseselection with respect to the quality of banks' balance sheets, in terms of heterogeneity inboth the likelihood and extent of their potential shortfalls, of future asset values vis-a-viscontractual debt...

This paper studies the extent to which risk-taking incentives of CEOs and other governancefeatures in a range of years prior to the recent financial crisis were related to the write-downsof U.S. financial institutions during the crisis. We document that institutions whose CEOs hadparticularly...

We investigate whether bank performance during the credit crisis of 2008 is related to CEOincentives and share ownership before the crisis and whether CEOs reduced their equity stakes intheir banks in anticipation of the crisis. There is no evidence that banks with CEOs whoseincentives were...

This paper summarizes the short selling restrictions adopted—mainly on anemergency basis—in the time period of July 2008 up to mid-June 2010 in 56countries around the world. It is a supplement to a recent article of theauthors (Gruenewald et al., 2010) and gives a detailed overview of...

Die aus der geringen Transparenz und mangelnden Standardisierung desaußerbörslichen Derivatehandels resultierenden Gefahren sind durch die internationale Finanzkrisedeutlich aufgedeckt worden. Nach dem Willen von Regulierungsbehörden soll diesembisher weitgehend unregulierten Marktsegment...

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Aufarbeitung der Hintergründe der Subprime-Krisesowie der nachfolgenden internationalen Banken- und Finanzkrisen. Auf dieser Basis werden Vorschlägediskutiert, wie die erkannten Schwachstellen im Finanzsystem repariert bzw. behoben...