El papel del sistema financiero en la crisis de la economía estadounidense

One of the determining elements in the difference between the American and the Japanese crises is the greater solvency of the US financial system in its wider conception. The better credit risk selection by the American banking sector and its orientation towards segments less punished by recession, have allowed for an adequate transmission of expansive monetary policy measures. Not less effective was also the role played by the financial markets, with a growing role of the channelling of finance to large borrowers. The rationing of credit imposed by wholesale investors compelled the issuers to carry out a policy of reparation that turned out to be more effective and less discretionary than the restrictions imposed by banking in other crisis episodes or in other economies with a closer interdependence between banking and industry. For the moment, the solvency and profitability ratios in American banking are higher than those in European and Japanese banking. Nevertheless, such an evaluation is not without its risks, above all if deflation becomes generalised in other assets, especially in the real-estate market.