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A Year of Living Dangerously: The Management of the Financial Crisis in 2008

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  • Vincent Reinhart

Abstract

There are many reasons to regret the decision of U.S. financial authorities to insert the government into the resolution of the investment bank Bear Stearns in March 2008. The Federal Reserve's use of its discount window built up false hope of future rescues. Paying off the uninsured creditors of Bear Stearns overcompensated them at the time and invited speculative attacks on the equity of similarly situated firms. I will argue that the market seizure after Lehman Brothers' decision to seek the protection of bankruptcy was an echo of the prior official decision to protect Bear Stearns.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent Reinhart, 2011. "A Year of Living Dangerously: The Management of the Financial Crisis in 2008," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 71-90, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:25:y:2011:i:1:p:71-90
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.25.1.71
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.25.1.71
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2009. "Varieties of Crises and Their Dates," Introductory Chapters, in: This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, Princeton University Press.
    2. Bryant, John, 1980. "A model of reserves, bank runs, and deposit insurance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 335-344, December.
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    4. Carmen M. Reinhart & Vincent Reinhart, 2010. "After the fall," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 17-60.
    5. Arvind Krishnamurthy, 2010. "How Debt Markets Have Malfunctioned in the Crisis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 3-28, Winter.
    6. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2008. "Is the 2007 US Sub-prime Financial Crisis So Different? An International Historical Comparison," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 339-344, May.
    7. Avinash K. Dixit, 1998. "The Making of Economic Policy: A Transaction Cost Politics Perspective," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262540983, December.
    8. Hyun Song Shin, 2009. "Reflections on Northern Rock: The Bank Run That Heralded the Global Financial Crisis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 101-119, Winter.
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    10. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2009. "Is the 2007 US Sub-Prime Financial Crisis So Different?: An International Historical Comparison," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 56(3), pages 291-299.
    11. repec:aei:rpaper:30944 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Douglas W. Diamond & Philip H. Dybvig, 2000. "Bank runs, deposit insurance, and liquidity," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Win), pages 14-23.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Adonis Antoniades, 2015. "Commercial bank failures during The Great Recession: the real (estate) story," BIS Working Papers 530, Bank for International Settlements.
    2. Annabi, Amira & Breton, Michèle & François, Pascal, 2012. "Resolution of financial distress under Chapter 11," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 1867-1887.
    3. Thomas Conefrey & David Cronin, 2015. "Spillover in Euro Area Sovereign Bond Markets," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 46(2), pages 197-231.
    4. James Foreman-Peck, 2014. "Great recessions compared," Investigaciones de Historia Económica - Economic History Research (IHE-EHR), Journal of the Spanish Economic History Association, Asociación Española de Historia Económica, vol. 10(02), pages 92-103.
    5. Olivier Armantier & John Sporn, 2013. "Auctions implemented by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the Great Recession," Staff Reports 635, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    6. Cornelia Woll, 2015. "Politics in the Interest of Capital: A Not-So-Organized Combat," Sciences Po publications 15/2, Sciences Po.
    7. repec:aei:rpaper:31217 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6sio9gcc4m9nr96pqt3c5at95b is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Ng, Travis, 2014. "Bailing outsourcing," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 983-993.
    10. Mr. Damiano Sandri & Mr. Ashoka Mody, 2011. "The Eurozone Crisis: How Banks and Sovereigns Came to Be Joined At the Hip," IMF Working Papers 2011/269, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2009. "Is the 2007 US Sub-Prime Financial Crisis So Different?: An International Historical Comparison," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 56(3), pages 291-299.
    12. Andrzej Sławiński, 2013. "Institutional Causes of the Global Banking Crisis and the Emergence of Macro-Prudential Countercyclical Policy," FindEcon Chapters: Forecasting Financial Markets and Economic Decision-Making, in: Władysław Milo & Piotr Wdowiński (ed.), Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Oeconomica nr 295/2013 - Financial Markets and Macroprudential Policy, edition 1, volume 127, chapter 1, pages 7-24, University of Lodz.
    13. Woll, Cornelia, 2015. "Politics in the interest of capital: A not-so-organized combat," MaxPo Discussion Paper Series 15/2, Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies (MaxPo).
    14. Baldursson, Fridrik Mar & Portes, Richard, 2013. "Gambling for resurrection in Iceland: the rise and fall of the banks," CEPR Discussion Papers 9664, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation

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