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Stressed not Frozen: The Fed Funds Market in the Financial Crisis

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Listed:
  • Gara Afonso
  • Anna Kovner
  • Antoinette Schoar

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the financial crisis of 2008 on the federal funds market, specifically the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. Rather than a complete collapse of lending in the presence of a market wide shock, we see that banks become more restrictive in which counterparties they lend to. After Lehman Brothers, we find that amounts and spreads become more sensitive to borrower bank characteristics. While the market does not contract dramatically, lending rates increase. Further, the market does not seem to expand to meet the increased demand predicted by the drop in other bank funding markets. We examine discount window borrowing as a proxy for unmet fed funds demand and find that the fed funds market is not indiscriminate. As expected, borrowers who access the discount window have lower ROA. When looking at the lender side we do not find that the characteristics of the lending bank importantly affect the amount of interbank loans a bank makes. In particular, we do not find that worse performing banks start hoarding liquidity and indiscriminately reduce their lending.

Suggested Citation

  • Gara Afonso & Anna Kovner & Antoinette Schoar, 2010. "Stressed not Frozen: The Fed Funds Market in the Financial Crisis," NBER Working Papers 15806, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15806
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Affinito, Massimiliano, 2012. "Do interbank customer relationships exist? And how did they function in the crisis? Learning from Italy," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3163-3184.
    2. Gorton, Gary & Metrick, Andrew, 2012. "Securitized banking and the run on repo," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 425-451.
    3. Acharya, Viral V. & Skeie, David, 2011. "A model of liquidity hoarding and term premia in inter-bank markets," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(5), pages 436-447.
    4. Christensen, Bent Jesper & Nielsen, Morten Ørregaard & Zhu, Jie, 2015. "The impact of financial crises on the risk–return tradeoff and the leverage effect," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 407-418.
    5. Paolo Angelini & Andrea Nobili & Cristina Picillo, 2011. "The Interbank Market after August 2007: What Has Changed, and Why?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(5), pages 923-958, August.
    6. Gara Afonso & Ricardo Lagos, 2015. "Trade Dynamics in the Market for Federal Funds," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 263-313, January.
    7. Massimiliano Affinito, 2013. "Central bank refinancing, interbank markets, and the hypothesis of liquidity hoarding: evidence from a euro-area banking system," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 928, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    8. Acharya, Viral & Mora, Nada, 2011. "Are Banks Passive Liquidity Backstops? Deposit Rates and Flows during the 2007-2009 Crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 8706, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Olivier Armantier & Adam Copeland, 2012. "Assessing the quality of “Furfine-based” algorithms," Staff Reports 575, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    10. Prof. Dr. Sébastien P. Kraenzlin & Benedikt von Scarpatetti, 2011. "Bargaining Power in the Repo Market," Working Papers 2011-14, Swiss National Bank.
    11. Viral V. Acharya & Ouarda Merrouche, 2013. "Precautionary Hoarding of Liquidity and Interbank Markets: Evidence from the Subprime Crisis," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(1), pages 107-160.
    12. Mr. Kalin I Tintchev, 2013. "Connected to Whom? International Interbank Borrowing During the Global Crisis," IMF Working Papers 2013/014, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Elizabeth Klee, 2021. "The First Line of Defense: The Discount Window during the Early Stages of the Financial Crisis," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 17(1), pages 143-190, March.
    14. , & Yorulmazer, Tanju, 2013. "Liquidity hoarding," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 8(2), May.
    15. Miss Liliana B Schumacher & Mr. Theodore M. Barnhill, 2011. "Modeling Correlated Systemic Liquidity and Solvency Risks in a Financial Environment with Incomplete Information," IMF Working Papers 2011/263, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Ritz, Robert A. & Walther, Ansgar, 2015. "How do banks respond to increased funding uncertainty?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 386-410.
    17. De Haan, Jakob & Poghosyan, Tigran, 2012. "Bank size, market concentration, and bank earnings volatility in the US," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 35-54.
    18. Gara M. dup Afonso & Ricardo Lagos, 2012. "An empirical study of trade dynamics in the interbank market," Staff Reports 550, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    19. Gorton, Gary & Metrick, Andrew, 2012. "Securitized banking and the run on repo," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 425-451.
    20. Jason Allen & Ali Hortaçsu & Jakub Kastl, 2011. "Analyzing Default Risk and Liquidity Demand during a Financial Crisis: The Case of Canada," Staff Working Papers 11-17, Bank of Canada.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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