CARE/CEASA Roundtable on: Liquidity and Capital Management

Five distinguished banking and accounting scholars explore the role of liquidity at not only the “macro” level of the economy, but also at the level of individual companies. The first of the four main speakers, who is the author of the preceding article, restates his argument that the stability of financial systems can be increased by directing bank regulators and executives to find the optimal combination of liquidity and capital requirements. The second of the four speakers shifts the focus to liquidity management by non‐financial companies, with particular emphasis on their use of lines of credit and their role in helping companies weather the financial crisis. The third speaker places liquidity in the context of capital markets, and presents suggestive evidence that improvements in corporate disclosure and transparency have beneficial effects on both the level and volatility of liquidity in those markets. The panel is rounded out by a discussion of liquidity in corporate bond markets and the proposal of a new way to measure such liquidity.     

Limited asset markets participation, monetary policy and (inverted) aggregate demand logic

This paper incorporates limited asset markets participation in dynamic general equilibrium and develops a simple analytical framework for monetary policy analysis. Aggregate dynamics and stability properties of an otherwise standard business cycle model depend nonlinearly on the degree of asset market participation. While ‘moderate’ participation rates strengthen the role of monetary policy, low enough participation causes an inversion of results dictated by conventional wisdom. The slope of the ‘IS’ curve changes sign, the ‘Taylor principle’ is inverted, optimal welfare-maximizing discretionary monetary policy requires a passive policy rule and the effects and propagation of shocks are changed. However, a targeting rule implementing optimal policy under commitment delivers equilibrium determinacy regardless of the degree of asset market participation. Our results may justify Fed's behavior during the ‘Great Inflation’ period.