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Beyond Pangloss: Financial sector origins of inefficient economic booms

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  • Malherbe, Frederic
  • McMahon, Michael

Abstract

Government guarantees of bank liabilities have a long-standing history and are now ubiquitous. We study a model where financial sophistication enhances banks’ ability to exploit government guarantees and fuels inefficient economic booms. Driven by financial engineering, bank rent extraction creates a disconnect between lending decisions and borrower repayment prospects: In equilibrium, banks over-lend and only break-even courtesy of trading book profit. Exploitability is affected not only by financial sophistication but also by regulation. Given the pattern for regulatory changes in the last few decades, we posit that the Great Recession, partly, reversed a Great Distortion.

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  • Malherbe, Frederic & McMahon, Michael, 2024. "Beyond Pangloss: Financial sector origins of inefficient economic booms," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:145:y:2024:i:c:s0304393224000114
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2024.103558
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    2. Benjamin Hemingway, 2022. "Banking Regulation and Collateral Screening in a Model of Information Asymmetry," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 61(3), pages 367-405, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Investment; Bank guarantees; Financial engineering;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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