Financial crisis
Can central bankers live up to their role as the guardians of finance?
Central bankers need to be the risk managers of the financial system to help mitigate the fallout from future crises. Those that engaged in the latest bouts of QE have not made a good start
Book notes: The Dollar Trap, by Eswar S Prasad
A lively and compelling analysis on currency wars in the wake of the financial crisis – and the likely persistence of the US dollar as the world’s pre-eminent currency
Two future paths for central banking
Andrew Haldane identifies two future worlds for central banks along with their implications for monetary policy, macro-prudential regulation, operations and transparency.
ECB economists find ‘considerable heterogeneity’ in impact of crisis
Researchers say that while borrowers ‘benefited’ from low interest rates, debt burdens increased for poor households as their incomes fell
The reorientation of central bank policy objectives
In this sponsored feature, Peter Warburton and Joanna Davies discuss how the policy challenges for central banks have been transformed in the aftermath of the global financial crisis
Financial crisis could cut long-term productivity by hitting spending on R&D
Bank of England working paper investigates the possibility that the drop in the UK's productivity since the crisis is due to the higher relative cost of investing in innovation
Finland paper: Loans-to-deposits among best indicators of banking crises
Paper examines banking crises in 11 EU countries between 1980-2013; growth rates and trend deviations of loan stock variables also yield 'useful' signals of impending crises
Fed's Lockhart 'comfortable' with rate liftoff next year
Atlanta Fed president also says weak governance was behind large number of bank failures in southeastern US following financial crisis
Mark Carney criticises 'radical belief' in capitalism
BoE governor says 'lost sense of moderation' has eroded social capital, but that central bank's financial reform efforts is a start towards more inclusive capitalism
Greater competition leads to riskier banking, ECB working paper says
Paper finds more competition led banks to resort to more securitisation, greater risk and ultimately a higher probability of being bailed out
Yellen hails Bernanke's courage in university speech
Fed chair Janet Yellen tells New York University graduating class her predecessor was brave to take ‘unprecedented' actions to fight the financial crisis
The international monetary ‘anti-system’
A network of systemic risk boards might improve stability in the absence of a viable international financial system, writes Jacques de Larosière.
Book notes: Reflections on Global Finance: Selected Essays from SSgA’s Official Institutions Group 2002–2013
Articles and essays addressed to official sector clients of State Street Global Advisors’ official institutions group (SSgA OIG).
Book notes: Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit
Markets for goods and labour depend vitally on the institutions that underpin them, say Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber
Book notes: Saving the City: The Great Financial Crisis of 1914
A fascinating, brilliant and superbly researched analysis of these events and the lessons they have for us.
Albania governor says lack of European co-ordination exacerbated crisis spread
Bank of Albania governor says big European banking groups can transmit global and European shocks to small economies in south-eastern Europe
Big eurozone economies dragged each other down during eurozone crisis
Sovereign CDS in Spain and Italy showed ‘notable co-dependence' in 2009–12 and also explained much of the widening in Germany's spreads, IMF paper says
Finland's 'deep structural crisis' must be addressed, Liikanen warns
‘Decisive action’ is required to tackle a ‘deep structural crisis’, now that attention has shifted from problems in the eurozone, Liikanen writes in the Bank of Finland's 2013 annual report
Massive stimulus saved China from ‘great recession'
The rest of the world could have avoided recession too, had other governments dared implement such a ‘bold and powerful' stimulus package, St. Louis Fed paper suggests
DNB's Knot says EMU countries must stick to macroeconomic rules
Blame for the euro crisis should be shared between surplus and deficit countries, says Dutch central bank chief, who urges a strict adherence to rules governing monetary union
Fannie and Freddie served as 'disciplining device' in sub-prime market
US mortgages eligible to be bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the financial crisis had 'similar ex ante risk characteristics' to other mortgages, but performed better during crisis
Eurozone policy was ‘backward' in the financial crisis, says Draghi
The policy measures brought in by the ECB and other eurozone authorities in 2010–11 were right in isolation but introduced in the wrong sequence, Mario Draghi has said
Danish paper examines effects of household leverage
Over-leveraged households saw the biggest hit to their consumption when the 2008 financial crisis struck, but the relationship broke down as the crisis continued, working paper finds
Canada's Poloz says demographic shift may be shackling growth
Bank of Canada governor says country's demographic profile means contribution to potential growth by human capital will diminish as 'baby boomers' retire and more people save for retirement