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Financial Crises

Is Commercial Real Estate in for a Downturn…or a Crisis?

Commercial real estate downturns don’t typically create systemic threats. Yale SOM’s Andrew Metrick offers a nightmare scenario showing why this time might be different.

An empty ground-floor commercial space, seen through a window.
  • Could Better Rules Have Saved Silicon Valley Bank?

    Was the closure of Silicon Valley Bank in March a failure of regulation? Greg Feldberg, director of research at the Yale Program on Financial Stability, recently investigated what could have happened if tighter regulations had applied to SVB. He found that better rules could have made a difference.

    A man reads a notice on the door of Silicon Valley Bank while someone talks on a cell phone inside.
  • Virtual Lecture: Silicon Valley Bank and the Anatomy of a Bank Run

    In this extended video, Prof. Andrew Metrick, director of the Yale Program on Financial Stability, explains why Silicon Valley Bank failed earlier this year, and what the collapse tells us about banking, bailouts, and the nature of financial crises.

    A screenshot of Andrew Metrick lecturing with a table of assets and liabilities
  • The Fed’s Many-Headed Dilemma

    According to Prof. William B. English, when Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and sent ripples through the financial system, the Federal Reserve’s challenge of pursuing maximum employment and low inflation “got even harder.”

    The Federal Reserve building seen past caution tape
  • What’s Next for the Startups That Banked with SVB?

    Federal intervention restored access to startups’ funds, but Yale SOM’s Song Ma says there are important lessons in the episode for founders, starting with diversifying their financial relationships.

    Customers at Silicon Valley Bank headquarters, seen through a window.
  • The Fed Pushed Silicon Valley Bank Off the Cliff

    Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian and Jeremy Siegel of the Wharton School write that the Federal Reserve’s impatience in taming inflation could tip the economy into crisis.

    Customers outside the  headquarters of the Silicon Valley Bank on March 13.
  • Is the Collapse of SVB the Start of a Banking Panic?

    Silicon Valley Bank, a financial hub for tech startups, failed and was seized by regulators this week. Prof. Andrew Metrick, who has studied past financial crises, explains how SVB’s balance sheet got squeezed and what's next for the banking sector.

    SVB sign
  • Stablecoins Survived ‘Crypto Winter,’ But That Doesn’t Make Them Safe

    Cryptocurrencies such as Tether, which is pegged to the dollar, have held on as others crashed. But according to new research by Yale SOM’s Gary Gorton, these “stablecoins” still pose major risks to the global financial system.

    A dollar floating in a frozen landscape with stablecoins tethered to it
  • What Makes the UK a Model for Managing Risks to the Financial System

    Yale’s Sigrídur Benediktsdottir and Greg Feldberg recently led an in-depth assessment of the UK’s systemic risk oversight as part of the IMF’s Financial Sector Assessment Program. They came away with new insights into one of the world’s leading models for managing financial system risk.

    The Bank of England
  • Inside the CDO Market That Catalyzed the Financial Crisis

    “Inside the CDO Machine,” a special project from the Yale Program on Financial Stability, explores the first-hand perspectives of market participants.

    A home in foreclosure in Lithonia, Georgia, in 2007.
  • Can We Reduce Risk from the Shadow Banking System?

    According to Prof. Andrew Metrick, new rules on banks have helped push risk to non-bank firms that aren’t subject to the same limitations. In a recent paper, Metrick and former Fed governor Daniel Tarullo propose ways to bring regulation of banks and this “shadow banking system” into better alignment.

    Shadows and a silhouetted figure seen through a series of rectangular openings.