This paper shows how credit quality transition matrices of loans to Italian firms changed during a cyclical downturn (2008-09), compared with a time of growth (2006-07). Once transition matrices were linked to interest rates, banks appear to have been able at calibrating required risk premiums...

We examine changes in banks' market-to-book ratios over the last decade, focusing on the dramatic and persistent declines witnessed during the financial crisis. The extent of the decline and its persistence cannot be explained by the delayed recognition of losses. Rather, it is declines in the...

This paper shows how credit quality transition matrices of loans to Italian firms changed during a cyclical downturn (2008-09), compared with a previous time of growth (2006-07). Once transition matrices were linked to interest rates, banks appear to have been remarkably able at calibrating...

Long-term debt contracts transfer aggregate risk from borrowing firms to lending banks. When aggregate shocks increase the future default probability of firms, banks are not compensated for the default risk of existing contracts. If banks are highly leveraged, this can lead to financial...

The cyclic development of economy (from upturn to downturn) influences the important macroeconomic factors – gross domestic product, inflation, level of unemployment, rate of interest etc. Structural economic problems today are those that are not merely due to the normal business cycle, but...

Despite the fact that the Panic of 1825 was arguably Britain's most severe economic crisis of the first half of the nineteenth century, many of the subsequent explanations of its causes have been briefly-stated and incomplete. The goal of this paper is to clarify and deepen the credit expansion...

This dissertation will analyse the degree to which Bank of England note issues influenced the extent of credit expansion by the British banking system during the 1819-26 business cycle. The evidence presented, both theoretical and empirical, tends to suggest that such an influence did indeed...

In recent weeks and months, a number of market commentators have drawn comparisons between the prevailing economic landscape and previous financial crises, episodes and events. These have ranged from talk of a new ‘Volcker Shock’ to a repeat of the 1987 stockmarket crash, the dot.com burst...

In the wake of the Great Recession, a massive monetary policy stimulus was provided in the main OECD economies. It helped to stabilise financial markets and avoid deflation. Nonetheless, GDP growth has been sluggish and in some countries lower than expected given the measures taken, and...

Financial intermediaries issue the majority of liquid securities, and nonfinancial firms have become net savers, holding intermediaries' debt as cash. This paper shows that intermediaries' liquidity creation stimulates growth -- firms hold their debt for unhedgeable investment needs -- but also...