Essays on Financial Stability
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Bank of Canada Banque du Canada Technical Report No. 95 / Rapport technique no 95 Essays on Financial Stability by John Chant, Alexandra Lai, Mark Illing, and Fred Daniel September 2003 Essays on Financial Stability John Chant, Alexandra Lai, Mark Illing, and Fred Daniel The views expressed in this report are solely those of the authors. No responsibility for them should be attributed to the Bank of Canada. ISSN 0713-7931 Printed in Canada on recycled paper ISSN 0713-7931 ISBN Printed in Canada on recycled paper iii Contents Introduction . iii Introduction (en français) . xi Financial Stability as a Policy Goal by John Chant 1. Introduction . 1 2. What is Financial Stability? . .3 2.1 The financial dimension of instability . 3 2.2 Criteria for instability . 4 3. Instability and the Financial Sector . 5 4. The Costs of Financial Instability . 8 5. A Role for Policy? . 12 6. The Role of Central Banks in Financial Stability . 14 6.1 Policy for financial stability . 14 6.2 What can a central bank contribute? . 14 6.3 A shared responsibility . 16 7. Challenges of Financial Stability Policy . 17 7.1 Accountability and conduct . 17 7.2 The liquidity dilemma . 19 7.3 Financial stability and other policy goals . 20 7.4 Financial stability and efficiency . 21 8. Conclusion . 22 References . 23 Appendix . 24 Financial Fragility: A Survey of the Theoretical Literature by Alexandra Lai 1. Introduction . 29 2. Stylized Facts about Financial Crises . 32 2.1 Financial crises result in substantial real costs in economic output . 32 2.2 Episodic or transitory? . 32 2.3 Onset difficult to predict . 33 iv 2.4 Often preceded by a period of credit expansion . 33 2.5 Involve liquidity shortages . 33 2.6 Unstable asset prices . 34 2.7 Contagion within and across markets . 34 2.8 Loss of confidence by investors . 34 3. Coordination Failure . .34 3.1 “Sunspot” equilibrium models . 36 3.2 Equilibrium-selection models . 37 3.3 Limited-commitment models . 39 3.4 Discussion and policy implications: Coordination failure . 40 4. Failure of Markets for Liquidity . 42 4.1 Market power in liquidity markets . 42 4.2 Imperfect information in interbank markets . 44 4.3 Discussion and policy information: Failure of liquidity markets . 45 5. Contagion . 46 5.1 Information contagion . 46 5.2 Information via credit linkages . 47 5.3 Discussion and policy implications: Contagion . 48 6. Financial Accelerator . .50 6.1 Financial accelerator caused by information problems . 51 6.2 Financial accelerator arising from commitment problems . 52 6.3 Discussion and policy implications: Financial accelerator . 53 7. Conclusion . 54 References . 57 A Review of Notable Financial-Stress Events by Mark Illing 1. Introduction . 61 2. The Stock Market Crash of October 1987 . 61 2.1 The market crisis . 62 2.2 The threat to financial stability . 64 2.3 The short-term policy response . 64 2.4 Long-term perspective and lessons . 67 v 3. The Collapse of Long-Term Capital Management . 68 3.1 The liquidity crisis . 70 3.2 The threat to financial stability . 72 3.3 The short-term policy response . 73 3.4 Lessons learned from LTCM . 74 4. Failures of Small Canadian Banks . 75 4.1 Why did the banks fail? . 76 4.2 The reaction of markets for liquidity . 79 4.3 The short-term policy response . 80 4.4 The direct costs of the bank failures . 81 4.5 Long-term perspective and lessons . 82 5. The Bank of New York’s $23.6 Billion Computer Bug . 83 5.1 The short-term policy response . 84 5.2 Long-term lessons . 86 6. Summary Remarks . ..