Angelo Ranaldo, Universität St. Gallen, Fragility of Money Markets

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We provide the first comprehensive theoretical model for money markets encompassing unsecured and secured funding, asset markets, and central bank policy. Capital-constrained, leveraged banks invest in assets and raise short-term funds by borrowing in the unsecured and secured money markets. Our model derives how funding liquidity across money markets is related, explains how a shock to asset values can lead to mutually reinforcing liquidity spirals in both money markets, and shows how borrowers’ flight-to-safety and risk-seeking behavior impacts their liability structure. We derive the social optimum and show which combination of conventional and unconventional monetary policies and regulatory measures can reduce money market fragility.