Fighting the Last War: Economists on the Lender of Last Resort / Richard S. Grossman, Hugh Rockoff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Grossman, Richard S.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Rockoff, Hugh.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w20832.

NBER working paper series no. w20832

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Fighting the Last War

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2015.

Summary:

In this paper we trace the evolution of the lender of last resort doctrine--and its implementation--from the nineteenth century through the panic of 2008. We find that typically the most influential economists "fight the last war": formulating policy guidelines that would have dealt effectively with the last crisis or in some cases the last two or three. This applies even to the still supreme voice among lender-of-last-resort theorists, Walter Bagehot, who wrestled with the how to deal with the financial crises that hit Britain between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the panic of 1866. Fighting the last war may leave economists unprepared for meeting effectively the challenge of the next war.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2015.