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Identifying the effects of a lender of last resort on financial markets: Lessons from the founding of the fed

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  • Bernstein, Asaf
  • Hughson, Eric
  • Weidenmier, Marc D.

Abstract

We use the founding of the Federal Reserve to identify the effects of a lender of last resort. We examine stock return and interest rate volatility during September and October, when markets were vulnerable because of financial stringency from the harvest. Stock volatility fell by 40% and interest rate volatility by more than 70% following the monetary regime change. The drop is insignificant if major panic years are omitted from the analysis, however. Because business cycle downturns occurred in the same year as financial crises, our results suggest that the existence of the Federal Reserve reduced liquidity risk.

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  • Bernstein, Asaf & Hughson, Eric & Weidenmier, Marc D., 2010. "Identifying the effects of a lender of last resort on financial markets: Lessons from the founding of the fed," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 40-53, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:98:y:2010:i:1:p:40-53
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    Cited by:

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    2. Mark Carlson & Matthew Jaremski, 2023. "Liquidity Requirements, Free‐Riding, and the Implications for Financial Stability Evidence from the Early 1900s," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(1), pages 323-341, February.
    3. Haelim Anderson & Guillermo Ordonez & Selman Erol, 2019. "Interbank Networks in the Shadows of the Federal Reserve Act," 2019 Meeting Papers 1285, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Haelim Anderson & Charles W. Calomiris & Matthew Jaremski & Gary Richardson, 2018. "Liquidity Risk, Bank Networks, and the Value of Joining the Federal Reserve System," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(1), pages 173-201, February.
    5. Jaremski, Matthew & Wheelock, David C., 2020. "The Founding of the Federal Reserve, the Great Depression, and the Evolution of the U.S. Interbank Network," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(1), pages 69-99, March.
    6. Calomiris, Charles W. & Flandreau, Marc & Laeven, Luc, 2016. "Political foundations of the lender of last resort: A global historical narrative," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 48-65.
    7. Charles W. Calomiris & Matthew Jaremski & David C. Wheelock, 2019. "Interbank Connections, Contagion and Bank Distress in the Great Depression," Working Papers 2019-001, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    8. Mark Carlson & David C. Wheelock, 2018. "Did the Founding of the Federal Reserve Affect the Vulnerability of the Interbank System to Contagion Risk?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(8), pages 1711-1750, December.
    9. Clemens Jobst & Kilian Rieder, 2023. "Supervision without regulation: Discount limits at the Austro–Hungarian Bank, 1909–13," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(4), pages 1074-1109, November.
    10. Mark A. Carlson & David C. Wheelock, 2016. "Did the Founding of the Federal Reserve Affect the Vulnerability of the Interbank System to Systemic Risk?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2016-059, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    11. Pooyan Amir-Ahmadi & Gustavo S. Cortes & Marc D. Weidenmier, 2020. "Regional Monetary Policies and the Great Depression," NBER Working Papers 26695, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Asaf Bernstein & Eric Hughson & Marc D. Weidenmier, 2014. "Counterparty Risk and the Establishment of the New York Stock Exchange Clearinghouse," NBER Working Papers 20459, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Masami Imai & Tetsuji Okazaki & Michiru Sawada, 2022. "The effects of lender of last resort on financial intermediation during the great depression in Japan [Ginko Hatan gaoyobosu Densenkoka no Bunseki (The analyses of the effect of contagion caused by," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 448-478.
    14. Mark A. Carlson & David C. Wheelock, 2018. "Furnishing an “Elastic Currency”: The Founding of the Fed and the Liquidity of the U.S. Banking System," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 100(1), pages 17-44.

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