IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cge/wacage/340.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Subprime assets and financial crisis: theory, policy and the law

Author

Listed:
  • Marcus Miller

    (University of Warwick)

  • Lei Zhang

    (Songklod Rastapana)

  • Songklod Rastapana

    (University of Warwick)

Abstract

In this paper, we explore three specific aspects of the US subprime crisis, using both theoretical models and the outcome of subsequent legal proceedings. First, the role of pecuniary externalities in amplifying shocks to the quality of MBS held by Investment Banks. Second, the role of adverse selection in the marketing of such assets by Investment Banks; and third the role of financial panic in making shadow banking disaster prone. The relevance of these differing perspectives is attested by the nature of state support and, more especially, the findings of law courts. Janet Yellen has recently argued that the vulnerabilities within the US financial system in the mid-2000s were “numerous and familiar from past financial panics”. That the aforementioned threats to stability should be complements and not substitutes is of more than technical interest. It helps to show why the US financial system was so exposed to radical failure.Keywords: Financial Instability, Pecuniary Externalities, Asymmetric Information, Bank run JEL Classification: D52, D53, G01, G12, G13

Suggested Citation

  • Marcus Miller & Lei Zhang & Songklod Rastapana, 2017. "Subprime assets and financial crisis: theory, policy and the law," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 340, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:340
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/340-2017_miller.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Goodhart,Charles, 2011. "The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107007239.
    2. Aymanns, Christoph & Caccioli, Fabio & Farmer, J. Doyne & Tan, Vincent W.C., 2016. "Taming the Basel leverage cycle," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 263-277.
    3. Dean P. Foster & H. Peyton Young, 2010. "Gaming Performance Fees By Portfolio Managers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1435-1458.
    4. Ana Fostel & John Geanakoplos, 2012. "Tranching, CDS, and Asset Prices: How Financial Innovation Can Cause Bubbles and Crashes," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 190-225, January.
    5. Christopher L. Foote & Kristopher Gerardi & Paul S. Willen, 2012. "Why did so many people make so many ex post bad decisions? the causes of the foreclosure crisis," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2012-07, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    6. David Miles, 2015. "Housing, Leverage, and Stability in the Wider Economy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(S1), pages 19-36, March.
    7. Charles W. Calomiris & Stephen H. Haber, 2015. "Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 10177-2.
    8. Nuno Coimbra & Hélène Rey, 2017. "Financial Cycles with Heterogeneous Intermediaries," NBER Working Papers 23245, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. George A. Akerlof & Robert J. Shiller, 2015. "Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10534.
    10. Bengt Holmstrom & Jean Tirole, 1997. "Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds, and The Real Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 663-691.
    11. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Thomas M. Eisenbach & Yuliy Sannikov, 2012. "Macroeconomics with Financial Frictions: A Survey," Levine's Working Paper Archive 786969000000000384, David K. Levine.
    12. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226081946 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. repec:aei:rpaper:25935 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Gennaioli, Nicola & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 2012. "Neglected risks, financial innovation, and financial fragility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 452-468.
    15. Milne,Alistair, 2009. "The Fall of the House of Credit," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521762144.
    16. Marcus Miller & Lei Zhang, 2015. "The Hedgehog and the Fox: From DSGE to Macro-Pru," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 83, pages 31-55, September.
    17. Shin, Hyun Song, 2010. "Risk and Liquidity," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199546367.
    18. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    19. Zeeman, E. C., 1974. "On the unstable behaviour of stock exchanges," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 39-49, March.
    20. Kevin C. Murdock & Thomas F. Hellmann & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2000. "Liberalization, Moral Hazard in Banking, and Prudential Regulation: Are Capital Requirements Enough?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(1), pages 147-165, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miller, Marcus & Zhang, Lei & Rastapana, Songklod, 2016. "A comedy of errors: misguided policy, mis-sold mortgages, and more," CEPR Discussion Papers 11533, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Marcus Miller, 2021. "Choosing the Narrative: the Shadow Banking Crisis in Light of Covid," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 291-310, April.
    3. Miller, Marcus, 2018. "The Financial Alchemy that Failed," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1183, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    4. Stijn Claessens & M Ayhan Kose, 2018. "Frontiers of macrofinancial linkages," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 95.
    5. Mikel Bedayo & Gabriel Jiménez & José-Luis Peydró & Raquel Vegas, 2020. "Screening and Loan Origination Time: Lending Standards, Loan Defaults and Bank Failures," Working Papers 1215, Barcelona School of Economics.
    6. Olivier Mesly & David W. Shanafelt & Nicolas Huck, 2021. "Dysfunctional Markets: A Spray of Prey Perspective," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(3), pages 797-819, July.
    7. Augusto de la Torre & Alain Ize, 2016. "The Conceptual Foundations of Macroprudential Policy: A Roadmap," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 333-352, December.
    8. Goldstein, Itay & Razin, Assaf, 2015. "Three Branches of Theories of Financial Crises," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 10(2), pages 113-180, 30.
    9. Augusto de la Torre & Erik Feyen & Alain Ize, 2013. "Financial Development: Structure and Dynamics," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 27(3), pages 514-541.
    10. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Thomas M. Eisenbach & Yuliy Sannikov, 2012. "Macroeconomics with Financial Frictions: A Survey," Levine's Working Paper Archive 786969000000000384, David K. Levine.
    11. Thakor, Anjan V., 2016. "The highs and the lows: A theory of credit risk assessment and pricing through the business cycle," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 1-29.
    12. Aikman, David & Haldane, Andrew & Hinterschweiger, Marc & Kapadia, Sujit, 2018. "Rethinking financial stability," Bank of England working papers 712, Bank of England.
    13. João F. Gomes & Marco Grotteria & Jessica Wachter, 2018. "Foreseen Risks," NBER Working Papers 25277, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Martynova, Natalya & Ratnovski, Lev & Vlahu, Razvan, 2020. "Bank profitability, leverage constraints, and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    15. di Iasio, Giovanni & Quagliariello, Mario, 2011. "Incentives through the cycle: microfounded macroprudential regulation," MPRA Paper 28179, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Ansgar Walther, 2014. "Jointly optimal regulation of bank capital and maturity structure," Economics Series Working Papers 725, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    17. Beck, Thorsten & Colciago, Andrea & Pfajfar, Damjan, 2014. "The role of financial intermediaries in monetary policy transmission," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-11.
    18. Brunnermeier, Markus K. & Oehmke, Martin, 2013. "Bubbles, Financial Crises, and Systemic Risk," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1221-1288, Elsevier.
    19. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Yuliy Sannikov, 2014. "A Macroeconomic Model with a Financial Sector," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 379-421, February.
    20. Emir Phillips, 2017. "The On-Going Price of Perceiving Money as a Veil," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(12), pages 215-228, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    financial instability; pecuniary externalities; asymmetric information; bank run jel classification: d52; d53; g01; g12; g13;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D52 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Incomplete Markets
    • D53 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Financial Markets
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:340. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jane Snape (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dewaruk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.