This paper shows that collateralised short-term debt, although privately optimal for reducing borrowers' moral hazard, can cause fragility (multiple equilibria) when the collateral market is illiquid. A new form of coordination failure between borrowers' ex ante margin and risk-taking decisions...

This working paper was written by Max Bruche (Humboldt University of Berlin) and John C.F. Kuong (INSEAD).We consider a model in which dealers intermediate trades between clients and provide immediacy, or, market liquidity. Dealers can exert unobservable effort to improve the chance of...

We consider a model in which dealers intermediate trades between clients and provide immediacy, or, market liquidity. Dealers can exert unobservable effort to improve the chance of intermediating profitably. This moral-hazard friction impairs dealers' ability to raise external finance and hence...