Topics to be covered include: the analytics of a financial crisis - the Great Depression; bank runs and the current financial crisis; case studies: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers; funding, interest rate and currency risk, and liquidity crises; bank resolution; modelling risky debt, systemic risk and default; VaR, CoVaR and other risk measures; elements of term structure of interest rate models and hedging applications; housing, mortgages, and the subprime market; the Goodhart-Tsomocos Model of Financial Fragility, and measure of systemic risk; the sovereign debt crisis and the Euro area bailout.
Preliminary Syllabus
Session 1
Course Introduction
The Analytics of a Financial Crisis: The Great Depression
· Basic facts on output, prices, labour markets
· Hypothesis about causes
· The role of financial factors
Essential Reading
Bernanke, B. and James, H. (1991) “The Gold Standard, Deflation, and Financial Crisis in the Great Depression: An International Comparison”, chapter in Hubbard, R.G. (ed.) Financial Markets and Financial Crises, University of Chicago Press, pp.33-68.
Search Oxford Libraries Online for print edition of this book
The Economist, Financial Crises: The Slumps that Shaped Modern Finance, Essay.
Freidman, M. (2006) “Why Money Matters”, Wall Street Journal, 17th Nov., A.20.
Case Study
To be handed out in class.
Session 2
Bank runs and Bear Stearns
· The Diamond-Dybvig Model
· Bank Runs
· The Demise of Bear Stearns
Essential Reading