Theory suggests that government aid to banks may either reduce or increase systemic risk. We are the first to address this issue empirically, analyzing the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Analysis suggests that TARP significantly reduced contributions to systemic risk, particularly for...

I examine the relation between Federal Reserve emergency actions and aggregate U.S. systemic risk during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 crisis. I divide these actions in to three categories: lender of last resort (LLR), liquidity provision, and open market operations (OMO)....