Currently, the need for, and the appropriate design of, a LOLR both at the national and international level is hotly debated. There are fierce controversies about how to handle crisis management. This book is intended for financial and monetary economists, commentators on financial subjects, (central) bankers, financial regulators, ministries of finance, and graduate students in these areas.

A fast-paced, behind-closed-doors account of the Federal Reserve’s decision making during the 2008 financial crisis, showing how Fed policymakers overcame their own assumptions to contain the disaster. The financial crisis of 2008 led to the collapse of several major banks and thrust the US economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression. The Federal Reserve was the agency most responsible for maintaining the nation’s economic stability. And the Fed’s Open Market Committee was a twelve-member body at the epicenter, making sense of the unfolding crisis and fashioning a response. This is the story of how they failed, learned, and staved off catastrophe. Drawing on verbatim transcripts of the committee’s closed-door meetings, Mitchel Abolafia puts readers in the room with the Federal Reserve’s senior policymaking group. Abolafia uncovers what the Fed’s policymakers knew before, during, and after the collapse. He explores how their biases and intellectual commitments both helped and hindered as they made sense of the emergency. In an original contribution to the sociology of finance, Stewards of the Market examines the social and cultural factors that shaped the Fed’s response, one marked by missed cues and analytic failures but also by successful improvisations and innovations. Ideas, traditions, and power all played their roles in the Fed’s handling of the crisis. In particular, Abolafia demonstrates that the Fed’s adherence to conflicting theories of self-correcting markets contributed to the committee’s doubts and decisions. A vivid portrait of the world’s most powerful central bank in a moment of high stakes, Stewards of the Market is rich with insights for the next financial downturn.

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.

The 2008 financial crisis poses three fundamental questions for economists and policy makers; understanding the origins of the crisis, understanding the consequences of this crisis for the world economy, and finally understanding why the 2008 financial crisis is not as serious as the 1929 crisis. The prevailing view is that the 2008 financial crisis was solely the result of inadequate financial regulation together with a very loose monetary policy conducted by central banks, especially the Fed. It is believed that this crisis is a temporary detour in the normal course of the events, so that in the near future capitalist economies will resume the high growth path observed before the crisis. In terms of the third question, there is a widespread view that the fundamental reason that explains the avoidance of the harmful experiences of 1929 was the fiscal and monetary policy expansions in developed countries. No important role is assigned to developing countries in terms of the effects of the financial crisis. This book challenges the prevailing orthodoxy surrounding the origins and the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. The book demonstrates that measures in addition to a profound change in the financial regulation are required if a new financial crisis is to be avoided in the future, measures include: a change in the conduct of economic policy; a reform of the national and international monetary systems; and a radical change in the pattern of income distribution. This book is essential reading for all interested in macroeconomics, monetary policy, development economics and the global impact of the financial crisis.

One important cause of the 2007-2009 crisis was illiquidity combined with exposure of many financial institutions to liquidity needs. But what is liquidity and why is it so important for financial institutions to command enough liquidity? This book brings together classic articles and recent contributions to this important field.

Dalvinder Singh provides an interdisciplinary analysis of the legal aspects of prudential supervision. This gives the reader a broader understanding of the core processes of banking supervision. By using the UK as a case study, a comparison is made with the US to illustrate the different ways of approaching the issues. The author examines the legal as well as the theoretical, economic, political and policy issues that underpin the purpose of prudential supervision, such as corporate governance, enforcement sanctions, the role of external auditors and accountability of financial regulators. These are considered in the context of broad-policy considerations which render prudential supervision necessary, namely financial stability and depositor protection. The book will be of interest to academics, policymakers, regulators and practitioners, and equally will serve specialist undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in law, management and economics which focus on financial regulation.