Exam Flashcards
Main features of the Central Bank
- National payments and settlement systems
- Prudential regulation/supervision
- Insurance for deposits
- Execute monetary policy —> inflation targeting
- Exchange rate policy
What is a foreign bond?
A bond sold in a foreign country, denominated in that country’s currency
What is a Eurobond/Eurocurrency?
A bond issued in a currency other than the currency of the country or market in which it was issued
Foreign currencies deposited in banks outside the origin of the currency
What is organized exchange?
Exchange where buyers and sellers meet in one central location, e.g. a stock exchange
What is over-the-counter exchange?
A market in which dealers at different locations is ready to buy/sell to whoever comes to them.
Primary vs. secondary markets?
Primary: financial instruments are newly issued by borrowers
Secondary: financial instruments already exists and traded among lenders (stock exchange)
Money markets vs. capital markets?
Money: only short term debt titles are traded
Capital: longer term debt and equity instruments are traded
Main roles of financial system (Levine 2005)?
- Producing information and allocating capital
- Monitoring firms and exerting corporate governance
- Risk amelioration (decrease risk)
- Mobilizing and pool savings
- Ease the exchange of goods and services
The features of an effective financial system?
- Transactions based on trust
- Strong legal infrastructure
- Save, reliable and efficient payment system
Risk associated with the financial market:
Credit risk: danger of default
Market risk: loss by sudden changes in asset prices
Liquidity risk: unable to sell assets quickly without loss
Market or government: Keynes?
Keynes believed market to be imperfect - no tendency towards optimal outcome
He believed government should intervene to ensure high levels of growth and employment
Market or government: Fisher?
Crisis is integral part of business cycle, we should not intervene
Laissez-faire
What was the outcome of the Bretton Woods conference in 1944?
44 countries aimed to make an international economic system that would reduce instability of the financial system.
Currencies pegged to the dollar, dollar pegged to gold = stable exchange rates
What is Mishkin’s (1996) problems of asymmetric information?
- adverse selection & moral hazard
Adverse selection: in debt and equity markets lenders have no way to distinguish good borrowers from bad ones
Moral hazard: borrowers have an incentive to engage in high-risk strategies, because they do not bear the risk, the lenders does.
What caused the Great Depression (1929 - 1939)?
- Over production (agricultural and industrial)
- Unequal distribution of wealth
- Stock market crash & financial panic
- High tariffs & war debt
- Monetary policy (decrease money supply, increase interest rate = deflation)
Economic theories to explain the Great Depression:
Monetarism (Milton Friedmann): Government should keep money supply under control, so you let the market adjust by itself
Keynesianism (John Keynes): Government should intervene on demand side - interest rate too high, no firms buying
Karl Marx: Recession and depression inevitable under free-market capitalism
What does the Lucas critique say?
One cannot draw conclusions on current macroeconomic phenomena based on events that happened in the past.
What does the Scumpeterian growth theory say?
- Growth generated by innovations
- Innovations result from entrepreneurial investments motivated by prospect of monopoly rents
- Innovation replace old technologies: growth involves creative destruction
How do the financial sector influence growth?
According to the Schumpeterian growth theory, the financial sector is able to produce growth through funding that results in innovations. The Schumpeterian growth model says that growth is generated by innovation.