Australian Steve Keen was, in fact, one of just 13 registered economists , out of a global total of around 36,000 (yes that really comes out as 0.04%), who actually anticipated the global financial crisis.Knowing this, I think it’s almost impossible not to want to read his latest book,...

A stable financial system is a prerequisite for well-functioning market exchanges, which, in turn, allow reaping the benefits of economic specialisation and trade. In many countries around the world, the benefits of modern finance are taken for granted. Financial stability comes to the forefront...

The recent credit crisis of 2007/08 has raised a debate about the so-called knife-edge properties of financial markets. The paper contributes to the debate shedding light on the controversial relation between risk-diversification and financial stability. We model a financial network where assets...

From 2008 to 2009, the FDIC guaranteed hundreds of billions of dollars of newly issued bank debt through the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP). We find that CEOs making more than their peer groups were significantly more likely to steer their companies to obtain federal guarantees for...

The Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) bought commercial paper from highly-rated issuers of U.S. dollar commercial paper during the financial crisis of 2008 to 2009. This is the only study to analyze the characteristics of firms selected for this Federal Reserve program. CPFF participants...

This paper develops a micro-founded general equilibrium model of the financial system composed of ultimate borrowers, ultimate lenders and financial intermediaries. The model is used to investigate the impact of uncertainty about the likelihood of governmental bailouts on leverage, interest...

The Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF) lent $2.3 trillion worth of general collateral to eighteen investment houses in exchange for riskier securities. Treasury collateral was in high demand in 2008 and 2009 as repo markets shunned lower quality collateral. This paper finds a negative and...

The stunning failure of banks put regulatory intervention high on the agenda of governments. Adequate risk monitoring, including by credit rating agencies, measurement and management have proven to be a daunting task, whereas regulation of innovative financial instruments has not brought about...

Ever since severe turmoil enveloped the financial markets in the fall of 2008, commentators have blamed deregulation of the financial system, and specifically the supposed “repeal” of the Glass-Steagall Act by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, for the crisis. This has led many to advocate...

A dozen years ago, Randall Kroszner, soon to be one of George W. Bush's economic advisors and a Governor of the Federal Reserve, could comment in a Levy Institute seminar, without fear of contradiction, that there was no evidence to back the “public interest rationale” for the separation of...