American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Capital Shortfall: A New Approach to Ranking and Regulating Systemic Risks
American Economic Review
vol. 102,
no. 3, May 2012
(pp. 59–64)
Abstract
The financial crisis of 2007-2009 has given way to the sovereign debt crisis of 2010-2012, yet many of the banking issues remain the same. We discuss a method to estimate the capital that a financial firm would need to raise if we have another financial crisis. This measure of capital shortfall is based on publicly available information but is conceptually similar to the stress tests conducted by US and European regulators. We argue that this measure summarizes the major characteristics of systemic risk and provides a reliable interpretation of the past and current financial crises.Citation
Acharya, Viral, Robert Engle, and Matthew Richardson. 2012. "Capital Shortfall: A New Approach to Ranking and Regulating Systemic Risks." American Economic Review, 102 (3): 59–64. DOI: 10.1257/aer.102.3.59Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D81 Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
- L51 Economics of Regulation
- G01 Financial Crises
- G21 Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
- G28 Financial Institutions and Services: Government Policy and Regulation