Articles

Articles and analyses from the INET community on the key economic questions of our time.

Article

Sovereigns versus banks: Crises, causes and consequences

Oct 18, 2013

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, few would dispute the risks of excessive borrowing. But which debts should one worry about – public or private? This column presents new research on the interplay of public and private debts since 1870 in 17 advanced economies. History demonstrates that excessive private-sector borrowing plays a greater role than fiscal profligacy in generating financial instability. However, when the credit boom collapses, the government’s capacity to alleviate the downturn is limited by the prevailing level of public debt.

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Lehman Was Not Alone – Measuring System Risk in the 2008 Crisis

Sep 21, 2013

what would measures of systematic risk have indicated to Treasury Secretary Paulsen if they had been available at that time?

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What Was the Real Cost of the Great Recession?

Aug 18, 2013

We are coming up to the fifth anniversary of the Lehman crash in September 2008. How bad was it? Have we fixed the problems?

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Game Theory: Too Much and Too Little?

Jul 20, 2013

In introducing game theory (in chapters 7-9), MWG build upon the theory of rational choice by individual agents, developed previously in the book to attempt to analyze (describe, explain, and even predict?) the interactions of such agents as well as the outcomes to which they give rise. In previous chapters, MWG discuss interactions only in the form of the arms-length interactions of numerous firms and consumers in specific markets (e.g. under ‘perfect competition’, in chapters 3 and 5).