IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/10349.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Political Economy of US Bailouts, Unconventional Monetary Policy, Credit Arrest and Inflation during the Financial Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Cukierman, Alex

Abstract

This paper documents and analyzes the interactions between the financial sector, politics and macro policymaking that, following Lehman?s collapse, led to extremely expansionary monetary policy measures and large fiscal rescue packages. After discussing the political economy of major 2008 bailouts the paper documents and analyzes the consequences of those measures for the monetary base, banks reserves and total credit flows. It shows that, in spite of such exceptional measures the US economy experienced substantial and persistent reductions in credit formation through banks as well as through the bond market along with persistently anemic inflation. Drawing on financial, institutional, legal and regulatory details, as well as on modern decision theory the paper provides explanations for the impact and the longer term effects of the subprime crisis and of the associated policy responses on total credit formation and on inflation. It also briefly considers current options of monetary policymakers with respect to the choice of future exit strategies and their timing.

Suggested Citation

  • Cukierman, Alex, 2015. "The Political Economy of US Bailouts, Unconventional Monetary Policy, Credit Arrest and Inflation during the Financial Crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 10349, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10349
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP10349
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghirardato, Paolo & Marinacci, Massimo, 2002. "Ambiguity Made Precise: A Comparative Foundation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 251-289, February.
    2. Cukierman, Alex, 2014. "Euro-Area and US Banks Behavior, and ECB-Fed Monetary Policies during the Global Financial Crisis: A Comparison," CEPR Discussion Papers 10289, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. George A. Akerlof, 2009. "How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why It Matters," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1175-1175.
    4. Lach, Saul & Tsiddon, Daniel, 1992. "The Behavior of Prices and Inflation: An Empirical Analysis of Disaggregated Price Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 349-389, April.
    5. Hans, Erwin & Wullink, Gerhard & van Houdenhoven, Mark & Kazemier, Geert, 2008. "Robust surgery loading," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 185(3), pages 1038-1050, March.
    6. Jordi Galí, 2008. "Introduction to Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle: An Introduction to the New Keynesian Framework," Introductory Chapters, in: Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle: An Introduction to the New Keynesian Framework, Princeton University Press.
    7. Cukierman, Alex, 2013. "Monetary policy and institutions before, during, and after the global financial crisis," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 373-384.
    8. Gilboa, Itzhak & Schmeidler, David, 1989. "Maxmin expected utility with non-unique prior," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 141-153, April.
    9. Eichengreen, Barry, 2012. "Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199642472.
    10. Li-Lin Ku & Chien-Pai Han, 2008. "Robust testing procedures of process locations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 42(5), pages 579-595, October.
    11. Viral V. Acharya & Hyun Song Shin & Tanju Yorulmazer, 2011. "Crisis Resolution and Bank Liquidity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(6), pages 2166-2205.
    12. Lars Peter Hansen & Thomas J. Sargent, 2008. "Time Inconsistency of Robust Control?," Chapters, in: Roger E.A. Farmer (ed.), Macroeconomics in the Small and the Large, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cukierman, Alex & Izhakian, Yehuda, 2015. "Bailout uncertainty in a microfounded general equilibrium model of the financial system," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 160-179.
    2. Massimo Marinacci, 2015. "Model Uncertainty," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(6), pages 1022-1100, December.
    3. Schumacher Johannes M., 2018. "Distortion risk measures, ROC curves, and distortion divergence," Statistics & Risk Modeling, De Gruyter, vol. 35(1-2), pages 35-50, January.
    4. Dennis, Richard, 2014. "Imperfect credibility and robust monetary policy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 218-234.
    5. Hansen, Lars Peter & Sargent, Thomas J., 2011. "Robustness and ambiguity in continuous time," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(3), pages 1195-1223, May.
    6. Jianjun Miao & Alejandro Rivera, 2016. "Robust Contracts in Continuous Time," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 1405-1440, July.
    7. Kwon, Hyosung & Miao, Jianjun, 2017. "Three types of robust Ramsey problems in a linear-quadratic framework," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 211-231.
    8. Djeutem, Edouard, 2014. "Model uncertainty and the Forward Premium Puzzle," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 16-40.
    9. Xin Li & Borghan N. Narajabad & Ted Temzelides, 2014. "Robust Dynamic Optimal Taxation and Environmental Externalities," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2014-75, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    10. Iverson, Terrence, 2012. "Communicating Trade-offs amid Controversial Science: Decision Support for Climate Policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 74-90.
    11. Asano, Takao & Shibata, Akihisa, 2011. "Optimal pricing and quality choice of a monopolist under Knightian uncertainty," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 746-754.
    12. Fulghieri, Paolo & Dicks, David, 2015. "Uncertainty Aversion and Systemic Risk," CEPR Discussion Papers 10510, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Benigno, Pierpaolo & Paciello, Luigi, 2014. "Monetary policy, doubts and asset prices," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 85-98.
    14. Dennis, Richard & Kirsanova, Tatiana, 2016. "Computing Markov-Perfect Optimal Policies In Business-Cycle Models," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(7), pages 1850-1872, October.
    15. Paolo Vitale, 2017. "Ambiguity-aversion in a Single Auction Market," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(3), pages 1745-1752.
    16. Dennis, Richard, 2013. "Asset Prices, Business Cycles, and Markov-Perfect Fiscal Policy when Agents are Risk-Sensitive," SIRE Discussion Papers 2013-79, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    17. Yiyong Cai & Warwick McKibbin, 2015. "Uncertainty and International Climate Change Negotiations," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 1(1), pages 101-115, March.
    18. Sorge, Marco M., 2013. "Robust delegation with uncertain monetary policy preferences," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 73-78.
    19. Chen, Jun-Home & Huang, Yu-Lieh & Chang, Jow-Ran, 2017. "Robust Good-Deal Bounds In Incomplete Markets: The Case Of Taiwan," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 58(1), pages 53-67, June.
    20. Kasa, Kenneth & Lei, Xiaowen, 2018. "Risk, uncertainty, and the dynamics of inequality," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 60-78.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monetary policy; Inflation since financial crisis; Political economy of us bailouts; Banks' reserves; Credit;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E51 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10349. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.