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Too Big to Fail
Book

Too Big to Fail

The Hazards of Bank Bailouts

Brookings Institution Press, 2004 more...

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

In this clearly prophetic book, Gary H. Stern and Ron J. Feldman examine the “too big to fail” doctrine, and show how policymakers made the financial system riskier by implicitly promising to bail out the biggest banking institutions. In the wake of the global financial crisis in which several major institutions failed in 2008, getAbstract welcomes this reissued, lucid assessment of one of the most perplexing, perverse policies in financial regulation, the idea that some institutions are too big to fail. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker’s foreword helps sharpen the book’s focus, and the authors’ advocacy for an end to bailouts is quite persuasive. This book is recommended reading for anyone seriously interested in understanding the calculus of financial policymakers, financial system risk, and the tilted playing field that benefits huge, risky banks and their shareholders.

Take-Aways

  • •Based on the “too big to fail” (TBTF) doctrine, big banks’ creditors expect the government to bail them out if the banks fail, so they do not exercise due diligence.
  • •The doctrine of too big to fail provides free insurance, cutting the cost of capital for TBTF banks and making their shareholders richer.
  • The TBTF policy has helped create and magnify systemic risk.

About the Authors

Gary H. Stern is president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, where Ron J. Feldman is senior vice president.


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    S. D. 7 years ago
    its good to start get abstract with a fine book
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    M. F. 10 years ago
    A great prophet.
  • Avatar
    R. S. 1 decade ago
    Published 4 years before the meltdown. I can only say, WOW.