Research Catalog

Title

The Fed and Lehman Brothers : setting the record straight on a financial disaster / Laurence M. Ball (Johns Hopkins University).

Author

Ball, Laurence M.

Publication

• Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2018.
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxv, 267 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

"The bankruptcy of the investment bank Lehman Brothers was the pivotal event of the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession that followed. Ever since the bankruptcy, there has been heated debate about why the Federal Reserve did not rescue Lehman in the same way it rescued other financial institutions, such as Bear Stearns and AIG. The Fed's leaders from that time, especially former Chairman Ben Bernanke, have strongly asserted that they lacked the legal authority to save Lehman because it did not have adequate collateral for the loan it needed to survive. Based on a meticulous four-year study of the Lehman case, The Fed and Lehman Brothers debunks the official narrative of the crisis. It shows that in reality, the Fed could have rescued Lehman but officials chose not to because of political pressures and because they underestimated the damage that the bankruptcy would do to the economy. The compelling story of the Lehman collapse will interest anyone who cares about what caused the financial crisis, whether the leaders of the Federal Reserve have given accurate accounts of their actions, and how the Fed can prevent future financial disasters"--

Series Statement

Studies in macroeconomic history

Uniform Title

Studies in macroeconomic history.

Subject

• Lehman Brothers (1993-2008)
• United States. Federal Reserve Board
• Lehman Brothers
• Federal Reserve System
• Umschulungswerkstätten für Siedler und Auswanderer Bitterfeld
• Global Financial Crisis (2008-2009)
• 2008-2009
• Bank failures > United States
• Bank failures > Law and legislation > United States
• Investment banking > United States
• Financial crises > United States
• Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009
• Bank failures
• Bank failures > Law and legislation
• Financial crises
• Investment banking
• Finanzkrise
• Investment Banking
• Börsenkrach
• BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / Macroeconomics
• United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-254) and index.

Contents

1. Introduction -- A Preview of the Argument -- Sources of Evidence -- 2. The Crisis of 2008 -- Investment Banking on the Eve of the Crisis -- The Bear Stearns Crisis and the Fed's Response, March 2008 -- The Lehman Brothers Crisis, March-September 2008 -- Lehman's Final Weekend -- After Lehman's Bankruptcy -- 3. The Legal Criteria for Fed Assistance -- Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act -- What Is "Satisfactory Security!" -- 4. Lehman's Balance Sheet and Solvency -- An Overview of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. -- LBHI's Balance Sheet -- Asset Valuation and Lehman's Solvency -- Fed Officials' Claims about Lehman's Solvency -- Lehman in Bankruptcy -- 5. Lehman's Liquidity Crisis -- Lehman's Strategy for Liquidity Management -- Changes in Lehman's Liquidity, May 31 -- September 9 -- The Run on Lehman, September 10 -- 12 -- Lehman's Predicament on September 13 -- 14 -- 6. Lehman's Collateral and the Feasibility of Liquidity Support -- The Implications of Lehman's Long-Term Debt -- A Realistic Scenario for Fed Assistance -- Comparison to Actual Assistance to LBI -- 7. Fed Discussions of Collateral and Liquidity Support -- Discussions before September 15 -- Bernanke's Testimony on September 23 -- Fed Claims about Legal Authority, October 2008 -- Present -- The FCIC Challenges Fed Officials -- Did Lehman Need a "Naked Guarantee!" -- 8. Fed Actions That Ensured Lehman's Bankruptcy -- An Overview of the Fed's Actions -- The Fed Tells Lehman to File for Bankruptcy -- Confusion about the PDCF Restrictions -- No Support for LBIE -- The Friday Criterion -- 9. Possible Long-Term Outcomes for Lehman -- Possible Outcome #1 Completing the Barclays Deal -- Possible Outcome #2 Survival of an Independent Lehman -- Possible Outcome #3 An Orderly Wind Down -- 10. How Risky Were the Fed's Rescues of Other Firms? -- Liquidity Support for Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs -- The Bear Stearns Rescue -- The AIG Rescue -- The Commercial Paper Funding Facility -- 11. Who Decided that Lehman Should Fail? -- The Fed and the Treasury in 2008 -- Henry Paulson's Role in the Lehman Crisis -- Ben Bernanke's Role in the Lehman Crisis -- Why Was Paulson in Charge! -- 12. Explaining the Lehman Decision -- Fear of Political Backlash -- Expectations about the Costs of Lehman's Failure -- The Fed's Shift on AIG -- 13. Conclusion.

Call Number

JFE 19-188

ISBN

• 9781108420969
• 1108420966

LCCN

• 2017057917
• 40028301859

OCLC

1010970425

Author

Ball, Laurence M., author.

Title

The Fed and Lehman Brothers : setting the record straight on a financial disaster / Laurence M. Ball (Johns Hopkins University).

Publisher

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Copyright Date

©2018

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Studies in macroeconomic history

Studies in macroeconomic history.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-254) and index.

Chronological Term

2008-2009

Other Form:

Ebook version : 9781108372862

Other Standard Identifier

40028301859

Research Call Number

JFE 19-188