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The primacy of hedge funds in the subprime crisis

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  • Photis Lysandrou

Abstract

When the subprime crisis broke out in the summer of 2007, the hedge funds avoided blame by disassociating from those that supplied the subprime-backed products and by disappearing among those that bought these products. This twofold defense strategy has worked to perfection because almost everyone who has studied the crisis is convinced that it is the banks and not the hedge funds that were chiefly responsible for causing it. This article puts forward a different interpretation of events. Its central argument is that had it not been for the hedge funds' intermediary position between the investors seeking yield on the one hand and the banks that created the high yield bearing securities on the other, the supply of these securities would never have reached the proportions that were critical in precipitating the near collapse of the whole financial system. Take away hedge funds and a general financial crisis could still have occurred in 2007-8, but it is only because of the hedge funds that the crisis that actually occurred initially took on the form of a subprime crisis. The policy implication of this analysis is that regulatory controls on hedge fund activities must be far tighter than those currently proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Photis Lysandrou, 2011. "The primacy of hedge funds in the subprime crisis," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 225-254.
    • Handle: RePEc:mes:postke:v:34:y:2011:i:2:p:225-254
    DOI: 10.2753/PKE0160-3477340203
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Goda & Photis Lysandrou, 2014. "The contribution of wealth concentration to the subprime crisis: a quantitative estimation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 38(2), pages 301-327.
    2. Joshua van Vuuren & Gary van Vuuren, 2022. "Detecting Investment Fraud Using the Bias Ratio," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    3. Palaskas Theodosios & Stoforos Chrysostomos & Drakatos Costantinos, 2013. "Hedge Funds Development and their Role in Economic Crises," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 60(1), pages 168-181, July.
    4. Photis Lysandrou & Anastasia Nesvetailova, 2013. "The Shadow Banking System and the Financial Crisis:A securities production function view," Working papers wpaper05, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    5. Photis Lysandrou, 2022. "The European banks’ role in the financial crisis of 2007-8: a critical assessment," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5), pages 879-894, September.
    6. Thomas Goda & Özlem Onaran & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2014. "A case for redistribution? Income inequality and wealth concentration in the recent crisis," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 12186, Universidad EAFIT.
    7. Jo Michell, 2014. "Factors generating and transmitting the financial crisis; Functional distribution of income," Working papers wpaper41, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    8. Ridoy Deb Nath & Mohammad Ashraful Ferdous Chowdhury, 2021. "Shadow banking: a bibliometric and content analysis," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-29, December.

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