Kicking the Can Down the Road: Government Interventions in the European Banking Sector
62 Pages Posted: 14 Oct 2018 Last revised: 7 Jul 2020
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Kicking the Can Down the Road: Government Interventions in the European Banking Sector
Kicking the Can Down the Road: Government Interventions in the European Banking Sector
Kicking the Can Down the Road: Government Interventions in the European Banking Sector
Date Written: July 06, 2020
Abstract
We analyze the determinants and the long-run consequences of government interventions in the eurozone banking sector during the 2008/09 financial crisis. Using a novel and comprehensive dataset, we document that fiscally constrained governments "kicked the can down the road" by providing banks with guarantees instead of full-fledged recapitalizations. We adopt an econometric approach that addresses the endogeneity associated with governmental bailout decisions in identifying their consequences. We find that forbearance caused undercapitalized banks to shift their assets from loans to risky sovereign debt and engage in zombie lending, resulting in weaker credit supply, elevated risk in the banking sector, and, eventually, greater reliance on liquidity support from the European Central Bank.
Keywords: regulatory forbearance; evergreening; zombie lending; sovereign debt crisis; bank recapitalization; fiscal constraints; political economy
JEL Classification: E44, G21, G28, G32, G34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation