...Mini-Case #2 Financial crisis, Home Mortgages, Credit Markets, Financial Institutions, Moral Hazard, Adverse selections, CONCEPTS IN THIS CASE: Mortgage defaults sub-prime mortgages mortgage-backed security defaults write off wealth effect moral hazard adverse selection You have been hired to manage a depository institution, such as a bank. The top management team is very concerned to avoid the similar massive defaults on home mortgages as in 2007. You are being asked to explain factors behind the financial crisis and explain the role of government in minimizing the adverse impact of the crisis on the financial system. You start with some background information on how a wave of defaults on home mortgages threatened the health of any financial institutions that had invested in home mortgages either directly or indirectly through investment in mortgage-backed securities. Mortgage-backed securities were perceived to be sound investments as they were rated by legitimate rating agencies. Before the crisis happened, banks had mistakenly believed that an innovation and securitization of their long-term assets could eliminate their exposure to mortgage defaults and minimize their interest rate risk and even make them more profitable. When the mortgages started to go bad, many investment funds ‘blew up” and couldn’t repay the loans they had taken from the banks. The banks had to “write off” the loans they had made to the investors. Doing so reduced their reserves and lending...
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...HOUSING BUBBLE AND ITS IMPACT ON GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS (2007) Housing bubble or real estate bubble is one of the basic problems that lead to global financial crisis in the late 2000s. When people’s wealth substantially increased, they will spend or consume more on everything, including houses. People demand for a better and bigger homes until in the late 90s, consumption boom occurred. The increased in demand has triggered housing bubble and makes the bubble became bigger. When demand on houses increased, of course the prices would be increased too. Until some point, the demand decreases or becomes stagnant, but the supply is still increasing, it will lead to sharp drop in the houses’ prices. At this point the bubble burst. Basically, the main reason that triggered the bubble and made it bigger was the policies of the Federal Reserve back in 2003. Referring to the reason, to avoid recession after the collapse of the tech bubble in 2000 and the 9/11 attacks in U.S during 2001, the Federal Reserve started to lower the interest rate from 6.5% to 1.75%. In 2003, the interest rate has been lowered to 1% and it remained there for a full year. However, the house prices were still growing up, higher than the interest rate. Even the house prices were growing at the rate of inflation, the Federal then encouraged people to buy houses. Federal has made an incentive so that people can go out and borrow at the rate of 1%. In addition, they created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a privately...
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...The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises, and sovereign defaults.[1][2] Financial crises directly result in a loss of paper wealth; they do not directly result in changes in the real economy unless a recession or depression follows. Many economists have offered theories about how financial crises develop and how they could be prevented. There is little consensus, however, and financial crises are still a regular occurrence around the world. Banking crisis Main article: Bank run When a bank suffers a sudden rush of withdrawals by depositors, this is called a bank run. Since banks lend out most of the cash they receive in deposits (see fractional-reserve banking), it is difficult for them to quickly pay back all deposits if these are suddenly demanded, so a run may leave the bank in bankruptcy, causing many depositors to lose their savings unless they are covered by deposit insurance. A situation in which bank runs are widespread is called a systemic banking crisis or just a banking panic. A situation without widespread bank runs, but in which banks are reluctant to lend...
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...The United States housing bubble was an economic bubble affecting many parts of the United States housing market in over half of American states. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and reached new lows in 2012. On December 30, 2008, the Case-Shiller home price index reported its largest price drop in its history. The credit crisis resulting from the bursting of the housing bubble is the primary cause of the 2007–2009 recession in the United States. Increased foreclosure rates in 2006–2007 among U.S. homeowners led to a crisis in August 2008 for the subprime, Alt-A, collateralized debt obligation (CDO), mortgage, credit, hedge fund, and foreign bank markets. In October 2007, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury called the bursting housing bubble “the most significant risk to our economy.” Any collapse of the U.S. housing bubble has a direct impact not only on home valuations, but the nation’s mortgage markets, home builders, real estate, home supply retail outlets, Wall Street hedge funds held by large institutional investors, and foreign banks, increasing the risk of a nationwide recession. Concerns about the impact of the collapsing housing and credit markets on the larger U.S. economy caused President George W. Bush and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke to announce a limited bailout of the U.S. housing market for homeowners who were unable to pay their mortgage debts. In 2008 alone, the United States government allocated...
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...Should the central bank play some role in bursting asset bubbles? This is a contentious issue that has been discussed for a long time. Some argue in favor of the view that central banks should burst bubbles. But, in their view, monetary policy should respond to asset bubbles in a cautious and moderate manner in order to avoid economic distortions. Some others argue against the role of central bank in bursting bubbles. They say bubbles generally arise out of some combination of irrational exuberance, jumps forward in technology and financial deregulation, for which the connection between monetary conditions and the rise of bubbles is tenuous. However, the central bank is at the centre point in this debate. The recent crash in the stock market in Bangladesh is also associated with some policies of the central bank. The aim of this article is to analyse the following two aspects: (i) whether the monetary policy response was appropriate to the rise and the recent collapse of the bubble, and (ii) whether the behaviour of financial institutions was optimal to the policy response. Commercial banks have been involved heavily in the stock market business in the last few years. Allowing merchant banking has exaggerated the situation. They became the key player in the stock market. Undoubtedly, any policies to control banks' exposure to the stock market could have significant impact on the capital market. Monetary easing during last two or more years (money supply was more than 22 percent...
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...According to Wikipedia a housing bubble is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real estate markets. It is characterized by rapid increases in valuations of real property such as housing until they reach unsustainable levels and then decline. Four years into the housing bubble downturn, much of the country remains hopelessly confused about what happened, why it happened and who is to blame. In my research paper I will try and demonstrate what a housing bubble is, some of the reasons for the bubble, was it preventable, how it kept growing, how it burst and how it has affected our economy. By definition a housing bubble is a temporary condition caused by unjustified speculation in the housing market that leads to a rapid increase in real estate prices. As with most economic bubbles, it eventually bursts, resulting in a quick decline in prices. The end of a housing bubble is hard to predict given the fact that economic conditions can change without warning. If a housing bubble swells to an extremely high level, the aftermath of a burst may set the housing market back years. There is little consensus as to the cause of the housing bubble that precipitated the financial crisis of 2008. Numerous explanations exist: misguided monetary policy; a global savings surplus; government policies encouraging affordable homeownership; irrational consumer expectations of rising housing prices; inelastic housing supply. Some explanations...
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...we often hear about the term financial crisis. Every day on the news we can hear about the financial crisis in some countries and how they are trying to prevent it or to get out of it. Especially about the financial crisis in Greece. So what exactly is financial crisis? There have been a lot of definition of what financial crisis is, but they all agree in one thing financial crisis appears when some institution or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crisis include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises and sovereign defaults. There a lot of types of financial crisis: banking crisis, speculative bubbles and crushes, wilder economic crisis and other crisis. But from all of them, today the most frequent financial crisis is the banking crisis. This happens when a lot of the depositors withdraw their deposits from the bank, causing the bank to bankrupt. This kind of crisis happened in 2007-2008,also known as the global financial crisis and 2008 financial crisis. This crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. This crisis was called the worst because it was spreading really quickly all around the world. But what causes this kind of crisis to happen? There a lot of causes...
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...The subprime mortgage crisis is a series of events and conditions that lead to the 2008 global financial crisis, which has caused the worst recession since Great Depression. The subprime crisis has made the five biggest investment banks become history and reduced thousands of American citizens begging on the street corners without a place to lay their heads. There is a proverb in China, “One can cope with the future by viewing the history”. Therefore, by reviewing the main causes of the subprime mortgage crisis and the impact it had on the global economy, we can figure out ways of avoiding a future crisis. * Background * Roots of the subprime crisis * Housing bubble * Homeowner wild speculation * Rapacious financial institutions * High-risk mortgage loans * Securitization practices * Governmental policies * Impacts * The U.S market impacts * The global market impacts * Ways of avoiding a future crisis A. Review the signs of the subprime mortage crisis 1. Rapaid appreciation in housing price 2. Monotonic degradation of loan quality B. Improve the supervision of the government 1. Improve regulation of the financial institutions 2. Policies to promote affordable housing 3. Community reinvestment act * Conclusion Subprime Mortgage Crisis I. Introduction The subprime mortgage crisis is a series of events and conditions that lead to the 2008 global financial crisis, which has caused the...
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...Fakultet:Ekonomski nauki –Strumica Financial Crisis -esej- Predmet:Angliski jazik 1 Izrabotil: Profesor:Natka Jankova Elena Garvanlieva Indeks: 9532 Strumica,dekemvri 2012 Throughout the history and even today we often hear about the term financial crisis. Every day on the news we can hear about the financial crisis in some countries and how they are trying to prevent it or to get out of it. Especially about the financial crisis in Greece. So what exactly is financial crisis? There have been a lot of definition of what financial crisis is, but they all agree in one thing financial crisis appears when some institution or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crisis include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises and sovereign defaults. There a lot of types of financial crisis: banking crisis, speculative bubbles and crushes, wilder economic crisis and other crisis. But from all of them, today the most frequent financial crisis is the banking crisis. This happens when a...
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...Future of finance With the current situation predicting future of finance is a tough topic even though based on statics we come across some conclusive findings. The global financial crisis has revealed the need to rethink fundamentally how financial systems are regulated. It has also made clear a systemic failure of the economics profession. The majority of economists thus failed to warn policy makers about the threatening system crisis and ignored the work of those who did. Achieving greater risk mitigation through macroeconomic and financial policies; and exploring more effective cross border linkages as a key dimension of a more prosperous future more risk-averse policy. Research suggests that economic growth will suffer from a sinking feeling among consumers that their incomes will continue to lose ground to inflation. Even though households are digging themselves out of debt, the painful 2007-2009 recession could leave a lasting scar on their willingness to spend. Many borrowers have been helped by the Federal Reserve's push to lower interest rates. Others are simply walking away from mortgages. People (need) to really believe that sustained strong growth is coming, which is like solving a problem by presuming its solution. Economic meltdown and learning Unprotected banking system combined with monetary authority and federal reserve made the situation to worsen. They didn’t understand what to be done, result is banking collapse. The government also failed in money...
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...buying a home seemed like a sure bet. Lenders understood that homes make good collateral, so they were willing to participate. In 2007, the US economy entered a mortgage crisis that caused panic and financial turmoil around the world. The mortgage crisis was a result of too much borrowing and flawed financial modeling, largely based on the assumption that home prices only go up. Greed and fraud also played important parts. Banks offered easy access to money before the mortgage crisis emerged. Borrowers got into high risk mortgages such as option-ARMs, and they qualified for mortgages with little or no documentation. Even people with bad credit could qualify as subprime borrowers. Fraud on the part of homebuyers and mortgage brokers helped make the mortgage crisis more serious. Mortgage applications were not checked for accuracy as well as they should have been. This is what started the subprime mortgage crisis, popularly known as the “mortgage mess” or “mortgage meltdown,” came to the public’s attention when a steep rise in home foreclosures in 2006 spiraled seemingly out of control in 2007, triggering a national financial crisis that went global within the year. Consumer spending is down, the housing market has plummeted, foreclosure numbers continue to rise and the stock market has been shaken. The subprime crisis and resulting foreclosure fallout has caused dissension among consumers,...
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...Hedge Funds: A liability for the economy? Sander van Bentum 362107 Max Wielitsch 385533 Dhr. B. Tims 17-10-2013 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Risks for the investors 4 The creation of risks to financial institutions 5 The excess volatility risk 6 Transparency 6 Unlevel playing field 7 Hedge funds and financial bubbles 7 The role of hedge funds in crises 8 Conclusion 10 Bibliografy 10 Introduction Everybody that is somewhat involved with finance has probably at some point heard of the term hedge fund. But what is it exactly? In simple words it can be described as, ‘’an actively managed, pooled investment vehicle that is open to only a limited group of investors and whose performance is measured in absolute return units’’ (Connor et al. 2003). This limited group of investors contain wealthy investors who would be able to cope with possible losses. Commonly hedge funds make use of arbitrages and price discrepancies, terms that are also known as inefficiencies within the market. By making small profits on a large scale by identifying these market inefficiencies and attempting to correct them these hedge funds claim to help the market become more efficient. Hedge Funds first made their appearance on to the global financial stage in 1949, when the first hedge fund was created by Alfred W. Jones. ‘’He raised $60,000 and invested $40,000 of his money to pursue a strategy of investing in common stocks and hedging the positions with short sales’’...
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...The sub-prime crisis has led to a financial crisis in 2008 to 2009 that impacted many countries around the world. Discuss the causes of the sub-prime crisis and the major parties responsible. As defined by investopedia, sub-prime is “a classification of borrowers with a tarnished or limited credit history. Lenders will use a credit scoring system to determine which loans a borrower may qualify for. Subprime loans carry more credit risk, and as such, will carry year of 2008 and 2009. The market instability was contributed by many factors, which hurt individuals, businesses, and financial institutions hard. Many financial institutions were left holding mortgage backed assets that had dropped greatly in value. The crisis was a result of too much higher interest rates as well.” The subprime crisis was a nationwide banking emergency that caused recession due to the borrowers being approved for loans that they could not afford – resulting in a large amount of default and foreclosures. The loans were largely based on the assumption that the value of home prices would continue to increase. There are a number of theories as to what led to the sub-prime crisis. It is believed it to have been caused through several factors. The crisis began with the bursting of the U.S. housing “bubble” that occurred in 2001. A housing bubble is defined as a temporary condition caused by unjustified speculation in the housing market that leads to a rapid increase in real estate prices. In the wake...
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...Date The economic crisis that struck the world between 2008 to 2009 had such resounding adverse impacts that brought even the mightiest economies to its knees. Even at present, the far-reaching effects of the crisis remain almost palpable and may be seen in high unemployment rates, economies still in recession and seemingly insurmountable national deficits. The United States, where the crisis had its beginnings continues to suffer from the recession even if it is gradually recovering. The present problems in the Euro zone may be partly attributed to the recession of 2008. Because of these, many scholars, economic analysts, researchers and businessmen continue to endeavor up to now to discern what the real cause of the economic crisis was in the hopes that it will not happen again. Many people attribute the global economic meltdown to the collapse of the subprime sector in the United States. To put it simply, the mortgage sector was blamed for the crisis because of how many financial instruments were collateralized by mortgages of people who had bad credit histories. When too many of them failed to meet their obligations, it began a series of defaults that ultimately collapsed not only the mortgage industry but the financial industry as well. All those that have investments in both sectors, local and foreign entities, also became affected as they lost what they have invested. However, a crisis of such scale as that which took place in 2008 to 2009...
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...rapidly. This is a "housing bubble." The danger in this situation is that the market will not be capable of sustaining the inflated prices, so the value of properties begins to come down, sometimes rapidly. Definition of a Housing Bubble * A "housing bubble" is a cyclical economic event where high trade volumes inflate prices, which ultimately become unsustainable, causing a lowering, or "crash" in values. Economic bubbles may be called by a variety of terms, including a speculative bubble, a market bubble or a balloon. Economic cycles of this nature are not exclusive to real estate. They have occurred throughout history in a variety of markets, including stocks, tulips and pottery. Contributing Factors to Unstable Housing Conditions * It could be argued that a housing bubble is really an example of a credit bubble. Although real estate is the underlying commodity, most house buyers use credit -- in the form of a mortgage -- to secure the property. Lax lending guidelines, rapidly inflating values, speculative buyers and the use of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), which can adjust to higher rates, are all factors in accelerating the likelihood of borrowers defaulting on their loans. The Effect a Housing Bubble Has on Local Markets * Tighter credit is likely to result after a housing bubble bursts; and although the effects following the downturn may have a broad effect on consumer purchasing power, the depth and duration of the housing bubble effects will vary drastically...
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