Crisis Chronicles: The Mississippi Bubble of 1720 and the European Debt Crisis
Convicted murderer and millionaire gambler John Law spotted an opportunity to leverage paper money and credit to finance trade.
Crisis Chronicles: The South Sea Bubble of 1720—Repackaging Debt and the Current Reach for Yield
In 1720, the South Sea Company offered to pay the British government for the right to buy the national debt from debtholders in exchange for shares backed by dividends to be paid from the company’s debt holdings and South Sea trade profits.
A Look at Bank Loan Performance
U.S. banks experienced a rapid rise in loan delinquencies and defaults during the 2007-09 recession, driven by rising unemployment and falling real estate prices, among other factors.
Crisis Chronicles: Tulip Mania, 1633‑37
James Narron and David Skeie As Mike Dash notes in his well-researched and gripping Tulipomania, tulips are native to central Asia and arrived in the 1570s in what’s now Holland, primarily through the efforts of botanist Charles de L’Escluse, who classified and spread tulip bulbs among horticulturalists in the late 1500s and early 1600s. By […]
Crisis Chronicles: 300 Years of Financial Crises (1620–1920)
James Narron and David Skeie As momentous as financial crises have been in the past century, we sometimes forget that major financial crises have occurred for centuries—and often. This new series chronicles mostly forgotten financial crises over the 300 years—from 1620 to 1920—just prior to the Great Depression. Today, we journey back to the 1620s […]
How Much Can Refinancing Reduce the Risk of Mortgage Defaults?
Improving the ability of homeowners to take advantage of prevailing low mortgage rates by refinancing has remained an active topic of discussion.
Just Released: January’s Indexes of Coincident Economic Indicators Show Fairly Robust Activity across the Region
The January Indexes of Coincident Economic Indicators for New York State, New York City, and New Jersey, released today, show fairly robust economic growth entering 2012.
Why Mortgage Refinancing Is Not a Zero‑Sum Game
In a recent speech, New York Fed President William Dudley called for actions “to see refinancing made broadly available on streamlined terms and with moderate fees to all prime conforming borrowers who are current on their payments.”