The Global Economic System
How Liquidity Shocks Affect Financial Institutions and Lead to Economic
Crises
Written for financial professionals, the authors thoroughly explain the
modern global credit system; the roles of banks, hedge funds, insurers, central banks,
mortgage markets, and other participants; and the credit-related instruments they rely on.
In particular, the authors illuminate the crucial importance of liquidity, and
show why liquidity failures have been the key cause of all major market crashes for the
past several decades. The Global Financial System thoroughly examines economic
environments in which slow de-leveraging leads to prolonged sluggish growth, and compares
today's environment to other periods of deleveraging, such as the Great Depression and the
Japanese economic meltdown of the '90s and '00s. It predicts potential pathways for the
current crisis, and offers essential guidance to both policymakers and investment
decision-makers.
George Chacko is Associate Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University’s
Leavey School of Business and formerly Associate Professor at Harvard Business School,
Managing Director at State Street Bank, and Chief Investment Officer at Auda Alternative
Investments. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Business Economics from Harvard University and a
B.S. from MIT.
Carolyn L. Evans is Associate Professor of Economics at Santa Clara University.
She has worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Board of
Governors, and the White House Council of Economic Advisers. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in
Economics and a B.A. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, all from Harvard
University.
Hans Gunawan is Senior Financial Analyst at Skyline Solar and formerly a manager
of financial planning and analysis at JAPFA. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University
and a B.S. from University of California, Berkeley.
Anders Sjöman is Vice President of Communications at Voddler. He was formerly
Senior Researcher for Harvard Business School’s Paris-based Europe Research Center. He
holds an M.Sc. from the Stockholm School of Economics.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Motivation for Understanding Liquidity Risk 1
Chapter 2: Liquidity Risk: Concepts 11
Chapter 3: The Great Depression 59
Chapter 4: Japan’s Lost Decade 105
Chapter 5: The Great Recession 173
Chapter 6: Conclusion 247
Index 261
288 pages, Hardcover