Join us online on 23 April, 17:30 CET! https://ysi.ineteconomics.org/project/5e947f40a6a5c2058bd14aea/event/5e99b93de03df84054447efc
Money is hierarchical and during crises, rules are flexible at the core and rigid at the periphery. In this crisis, the penalty rate part of Bagehot’s rule was replaced with “friendly” rates for the core – with Covid-19 there is no moral hazard in lending to the core of the system at low rates. (…) The net impact of this rule will be that primary dealers will be able to run “limitless Treasury inventories”, which, if need be, will be financed via repos by the Fed. In that sense, the Board of Governors of the Fed is “drafting” the dealer community to take part in the war effort – by financing the war on Covid-19. Paraphrasing Churchill: “we give you the balance sheet, and you’ll finish the job”.