The actions by the European Central Bank (ECB) during the global and European crises have triggered a highly controversial debate, in particular in Germany, about the costs and benefits of the chosen policy path. The paper reviews, compares and evaluates the different arguments made in favour...

Central banks have had an important role in maintaining financial stability through their lender of last resort role. As lender of last resort, the central bank is given enormous power which is normally tempered by a variety of limits. In the most recent crises in both the United States and euro...

We use a series of different approaches to extract information about crash risk from option prices for the Euro-Dollar exchange rate, with each step sharpening the focus on extracting more specific measures of crash risk around dates of ECB measures of Unconventional Monetary Policy. Several...

We use a series of different approaches to extract information about crash risk from option prices for the Euro-Dollar exchange rate, with each step sharpening the focus on extracting more specific measures of crash risk around dates of ECB measures of Unconventional Monetary Policy. Several...

This paper offers an encompassing analysis of the ECB’s collateral criteria between 2001 and 2013. A comprehensive database of changes to collateral criteria is compiled and structured by asset classes. The main findings can be summarized in three stylized facts: (1) Since the outbreak of the...

This paper argues that the loose monetary policy of two of the world's most important financial institutions-the US Federal Reserve Board and the European Central Bank-were ultimately responsible for the outburst of global financial crisis of 2008 - 09. Unusually low interest rates in 2001 - 05...

Unlike the crisis years of 2007-2009 (when the insolvency of large banks was a major problem), the current round of the global financial crisis has fiscal origins. Almost all developed countries suffer from an excessive public debt burden that has been built up over the last two decades or more....

This paper offers an encompassing analysis of the ECB's collateral criteria between 2001 and 2013. A comprehensive database of changes to collateral criteria is compiled and structured by asset classes. The main findings can be summarized in three stylized facts: (1) Since the outbreak of the...

This paper argues that the loose monetary policy of two of the world’s most important financial institutions-the US Federal Reserve Board and the European Central Bank-were ultimately responsible for the outburst of global financial crisis of 2008 - 09. Unusually low interest rates in 2001 -...

This paper offers an encompassing analysis of the ECB’s collateral criteria between 2001 and 2013. A comprehensive database of changes to collateral criteria is compiled and structured by asset classes. The main findings can be summarized in three stylized facts: (1) Since the outbreak of the...