Financial Amplification Mechanisms and the Federal Reserve's Supply of Liquidity During the Crisis
20 Pages Posted: 17 Sep 2010
Date Written: August 1, 2010
Abstract
The small decline in the value of mortgage-related assets relative to the large total losses associated with the financial crisis suggests the presence of financial amplification mechanisms, which allow relatively small shocks to propagate through the financial system. We review the literature on financial amplification mechanisms and discuss the Federal Reserve’s interventions during different stages of the crisis in light of this literature. We interpret the Fed’s early-stage liquidity programs as working to dampen balance sheet amplifications arising from the positive feedback between financial constraints and asset prices. By comparison, the Fed’s later-stage crisis programs take into account adverse-selection amplifications that operate via increases in credit risk and the externality imposed by risky borrowers on safe ones. Finally, we provide new empirical evidence that increases in the Federal Reserve’s liquidity supply reduce interest rates during periods of high liquidity risk. Our analysis has implications for the impact on market prices of a potential withdrawal of liquidity supply by the Fed.
Keywords: Financial Amplification Mechanism, Federal Reserve Liquidity Facilities, Balance Sheet, Adverse Selection, Funding Liquidity, Market Liquidity
JEL Classification: G01, G18, G21, G32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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