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The role of the Federal Reserve as an international lender of last resort during the 2007–2008 financial crisis

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  • Pierluigi Morelli
  • Giovanni Pittaluga
  • Elena Seghezza

Abstract

During the 2007–2008 financial crisis several banking systems suffered shortages in U.S. dollars. The liquidity crisis of these banking systems was overcome thanks to the successful intervention of the Federal Reserve that granted swap lines to several central banks, acting as an international lender of last resort. In this paper we show that the Fed’s intervention was motivated principally by its desire to safeguard the stability of the U.S. banking system. For this reason the Fed’s action was expected by the countries whose banking systems had met with a U.S. dollars shortage. In taking for granted the support of the Fed, the authorities of these countries were affected by forms of ex-ante moral hazard, such as the holding of low amounts of official reserves. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

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  • Pierluigi Morelli & Giovanni Pittaluga & Elena Seghezza, 2015. "The role of the Federal Reserve as an international lender of last resort during the 2007–2008 financial crisis," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 93-106, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:iecepo:v:12:y:2015:i:1:p:93-106
    DOI: 10.1007/s10368-014-0290-y
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    2. Emmanuel Carré & Laurent Le Maux, 2018. "Globalisation financière et Dollar Swap Lines : la Réserve fédérale et la Banque centrale européenne durant la crise de 2007-2009," CEPN Working Papers hal-01933930, HAL.
    3. Emmanuel Carré & Laurent Le Maux, 2018. "The Federal Reserve's Dollar Swap Lines and the European Central Bank during the global financial crisis of 2007-2009," Post-Print hal-02570211, HAL.
    4. Gete, Pedro & Melkadze, Givi, 2020. "A quantitative model of international lending of last resort," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    5. Tim Marple, 2021. "The social management of complex uncertainty: Central Bank similarity and crisis liquidity swaps at the Federal Reserve," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 377-401, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International lender of last resort; Fed swap lines; Moral hazard and foreign exchange reserves; G21; G28; E58;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

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