Commentary by faculty and affiliates of the Duke Law Global Financial Markets Center
Courtesy of Mete Feridun While it is important to consider which regulatory measures may alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is equally important not to allow the pandemic to derail the planned implementation of future regulations. The complex final phase of the Basel III reforms—referred to as “Basel IV” by the industry—are especially […]
Courtesy of Chris Smith and Sangita Gazi A decade after Lehman Brothers collapsed, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reviewed the economics literature and concluded that “one of the main reasons why the subsequent recession was ‘great’ was due to high levels of leverage and debt.” On the eve of the 2008 financial crisis, […]
Courtesy of Konstantinos Sergakis and Andreas Kokkinis Employee participation in corporate governance refers to a range of institutions, voluntary or legally mandated, that engage employees in corporate decision-making. Examples include works councils with co-decision powers on labor matters, advisory panels, information and consultation committees, employee share ownership schemes, and board representation. In the US, Senator […]
Courtesy of Christos A. Makridis and Jonathan Hartley Although academic research on the COVID-19 pandemic began with a slow start, policymakers were grappling with challenges about the economic effects of the national containment strategy. Since real-time macroeconomic indicators will take some time to come in, we published a policy brief on April 6thbased on research […]
Courtesy of Mete Feridun The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a significant and sudden decline in economic and financial activity across the world, bringing back bad memories of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. There are indeed strong similarities between the current COVID-19 pandemic and the 2007-2008 crisis, particularly in terms of capital market dysfunction, uncertainty, […]
Courtesy of Stefano Ramelli* and Alexander F. Wagner** The outbreak of COVID-19 took the world economy by surprise. The topic ‘‘infectious diseases’’ was ranked number 10 in terms of impact in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2020, published on January 15, 2020, but was considered quite unlikely. Instead, most corporate decision-makers and politicians […]
Courtesy of Ryan Clements Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are at the heart of the COVID-19 financial crisis.[1] Over forty percent of the trading volume during the mid-March selloff was in ETFs (multiple times the percentage in January), making them the “tool of choice” for many crisis traders.[2] Using ETFs to trade through a crisis makes sense […]
Courtesy of Reuven S. Avi-Yonah A recent New York Times headline summarizes one of the most significant economic impacts of the current pandemic: “Big Tech Could Emerge From Coronavirus Crisis Stronger Than Ever.” At a time when most American citizens and businesses are suffering catastrophic economic damage from the Coronavirus recession, some corporations—such as Amazon, 3M, […]
Courtesy of Alexandra Andhov As COVID-19 continues to spread across continents, all economies begin to tremble and prepare for the worst. Companies, investors, and trading clients are turning to stock exchanges amid one of the most tumultuous periods in market history to borrow money, buy or sell assets, and limit losses in their holdings. Yet […]
Courtesy of Todd Phillips* This morning, the Federal Reserve announced it would begin open-ended quantitative easing, offering to buy “Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities in the amounts needed to support smooth market functioning and effective transmission of monetary policy.” This expands on its announcement last week that it’d buy up to $700 billion worth […]