Reversing the Financial Accelerator


Book Description

This paper examines the role of credit markets in the transmission of U.S. macro-financial shocks through the prism of a financial conditions index (FCI) based on a vector autoregression (VAR) methodology. It explores the relative predictive power of market variables compared to credit standards/conditions. The main conclusion is that under plausible specifications credit conditions dominate market variables, highlighting the importance of credit supply. The fact that direct measures of credit conditions anticipate future movements in asset prices has an extremely important implication. Most models of the credit channel see it as an amplifier of underlying changes in financial wealth. The impact of credit conditions on growth compared to other market variables implies that credit supply drives other financial variables rather than responding to them.




Exchange Rate Flexibility and Credit during Capital Inflow Reversals


Book Description

We document the behavior of macro and credit variables during episodes of capital inflows reversals in economies with different degrees of exchange rate flexibility. We find that exchange rate flexibility is associated with milder credit growth during the boom but, even though smaller than in more rigid regimes, it cannot shield the economy from a credit reversal. Furthermore, we observe what we dub as a recovery puzzle: credit growth in economies with more flexible exchange rate regimes remains tepid well after the capital flow reversal takes place. This results stress the complementarity of macro-prudential policies with the exchange rate regime. More flexible regimes could help smoothing the credit cycle through capital surchages and dynamic provisioning that build buffers to counteract the credit recovery puzzle. In contrast, more rigid exchange rate regimes would benefit the most from measures to contain excessive credit growth during booms, such as reserve requirements, loan-to-income ratios, and debt-to-income and debt-service-to-income limits.




Financial Crises Explanations, Types, and Implications


Book Description

This paper reviews the literature on financial crises focusing on three specific aspects. First, what are the main factors explaining financial crises? Since many theories on the sources of financial crises highlight the importance of sharp fluctuations in asset and credit markets, the paper briefly reviews theoretical and empirical studies on developments in these markets around financial crises. Second, what are the major types of financial crises? The paper focuses on the main theoretical and empirical explanations of four types of financial crises—currency crises, sudden stops, debt crises, and banking crises—and presents a survey of the literature that attempts to identify these episodes. Third, what are the real and financial sector implications of crises? The paper briefly reviews the short- and medium-run implications of crises for the real economy and financial sector. It concludes with a summary of the main lessons from the literature and future research directions.




Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics


Book Description

A pioneer treatment of monetary economics written by two of world's leading authorities.




Three Cycles


Book Description

We examine the characteristics and comovement of cycles in house prices, credit, real activity and interest rates in advanced economies during the past 25 years, using a dynamic generalized factor model. House price cycles generally lead credit and business cycles over the long term, while in the short to medium term the relationship varies across countries. Interest rates tend to lag other cycles at all time horizons. While global factors are important, the U.S. business cycle, house price cycle and interest rate cycle generally lead the respective cycles in other countries over all time horizons, while the U.S. credit cycle leads mainly over the long term.




Mother, Can I Trust the Government? Sustained Financial Deepening


Book Description

Only a minority of countries have succeeded in establishing a developed financial system, despite widespread financial liberalization. Confronted with this finding, the political institutions view claims that sustained financial deepening is most likely to take place in institutional environments where governments effectively impose constraints on their own powers in order to create trust. This paper identifies over 200 post-1960 episodes of accelerations in financial development in a large cross-section of countries. We find that the likelihood of an acceleration leading to sustained financial development increases greatly in environments that have high-quality political institutions.




Macroeconomics


Book Description

At the cutting edge of the subject area, the authors bring the macroeconomics that researchers and policymakers use today into focus. By developing a coherent set of tractable models, the book enables students to explore and make sense of the pressing questions facing global economies.Carlin and Soskice connect students with contemporary research and policy in macroeconomics. The authors' 3-equation model - extended to include the financial system and with an integrated treatment of inequality - equips students with a method they can apply to the enduring challenges stirred by the financial crisis and the Great Recession.Key features* Engaged with the latest developments in macroeconomic research, policy, and debate, the authors make the cutting edge accessible to undergraduate readers* The theme of inequality is integrated throughout in modelling and applications, with incomplete contracts in labour and credit markets underpinning the presence of involuntary unemployment and credit constraints* The content distils business cycles into a 3-equation model of the demand side, the supply side, and the policy maker, providing a realistic and transparent model which students can deploy to address the questions that interest them* Open economy modelling for both flexible and fixed exchange rate regimes builds on the same foundations and handles oil and climate shocks, as well as the Eurozone crisis* Features thorough treatment of the financial system and how to integrate the financial and business cycles, including coverage on policy design and implementation for financial stability in the wake of the 2008-9 financial crisis and an exploration of hysteresis in the context of the Great Recession* Comprehensive coverage of monetary policy including the ample reserves regime and of fiscal policy and debt dynamics* Unified treatment of exogenous and endogenous growth models emphasizing the different mechanisms through which diminishing returns to capital can be offset, while Chapter 17 on the ICT revolution examines the implications of innovation and technological change on the future of work and inequality* Contains a chapter considering contemporary quantitative macroeconomics research - including the Heterogeneous Agent New Keynesian (HANK) model - exposing students to the tools that researchers currently use, as well as the benefits and limitations of these methods* End-of-chapter 'Checklist questions' enable students to assess their comprehension, while 'Problems' prompt students to apply independent critical thought* Also available as an e-book enhanced with access to The Macroeconomic Simulator, Animated Analytical Diagrams, and self-assessment activities enabling students to recap content and investigate how models work at their own paceDigital formats and resourcesThis title is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats and is supported by online resources.The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with self-assessment activities, multi-media content, and links that offer extra learning support. For more information visit:www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks/This title is supported by a range of online resource for students including multiple-choice-questions with instant feedback, interactive Animated Analytical Diagrams, access to The Macroeconomic Simulator, web appendices which develop chapters 1, 4, 7, and 18, In addition, lecturers can access PowerPoint slides to accompany each chapter and answers to the problems and questions set in the book.




The Great Crash of 1929


Book Description

Understanding the American stock market boom and bust of the 1920s is vital for formulating policies to combat the potentially deleterious effects of busts on the economy. Using new data, Kabiri explains what led to the 1920s stock market boom and 1929 crash and looks at whether 1929 was a bubble or not and whether it could have been anticipated.




Guide to Financial Markets


Book Description

The revised and updated 7th edition of this highly regarded book brings the reader right up to speed with the latest financial market developments, and provides a clear and incisive guide to a complex world that even those who work in it often find hard to understand. In chapters on the markets that deal with money, foreign exchange, equities, bonds, commodities, financial futures, options and other derivatives, the book examines why these markets exist, how they work, and who trades in them, and gives a run-down of the factors that affect prices and rates. Business history is littered with disasters that occurred because people involved their firms with financial instruments they didn't properly understand. If they had had this book they might have avoided their mistakes. For anyone wishing to understand financial markets, there is no better guide.




Between Debt and the Devil


Book Description

Why our addiction to debt caused the global financial crisis and is the root of our financial woes Adair Turner became chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority just as the global financial crisis struck in 2008, and he played a leading role in redesigning global financial regulation. In this eye-opening book, he sets the record straight about what really caused the crisis. It didn’t happen because banks are too big to fail—our addiction to private debt is to blame. Between Debt and the Devil challenges the belief that we need credit growth to fuel economic growth, and that rising debt is okay as long as inflation remains low. In fact, most credit is not needed for economic growth—but it drives real estate booms and busts and leads to financial crisis and depression. Turner explains why public policy needs to manage the growth and allocation of credit creation, and why debt needs to be taxed as a form of economic pollution. Banks need far more capital, real estate lending must be restricted, and we need to tackle inequality and mitigate the relentless rise of real estate prices. Turner also debunks the big myth about fiat money—the erroneous notion that printing money will lead to harmful inflation. To escape the mess created by past policy errors, we sometimes need to monetize government debt and finance fiscal deficits with central-bank money. Between Debt and the Devil shows why we need to reject the assumptions that private credit is essential to growth and fiat money is inevitably dangerous. Each has its advantages, and each creates risks that public policy must consciously balance.