Measuring Global Financial Sector Health

The financial crisis of 2007‐2009 has given way to the sovereign debt crisis of 2010‐2012, yet many of the banking issues remain the same.  We discuss a method to estimate the capital that a financial firm would need to raise if we have another financial crisis.  This measure of capital shortfall is based on publicly available information but is conceptually similar to the stress tests conducted by US and European regulators.  We argue that this measure summarizes the major characteristics of systemic risk and provides a reliable interpretation of the past and current financial crises.

About the Speaker:

Viral V. Acharya is the C.V. Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University. He is the Program Director for Financial Economics and a Research Affiliate at the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); a Director of  the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India and the NYU‐Stern Initiative on the Study of Indian Capital Markets, and the International Growth Center (IGC) Finance Research Program; a member of Advisory Scientific Committee of European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), Economic Advisory Committee of the Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA), Advisory Committee of Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) of India, International Advisory Board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and, an Academic Advisor to the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia,  the Board of Governors and the Bank of Canada.

Viral’s primary research interest is in theoretical and empirical analysis of global risk of the financial sector, its regulation and its genesis.  Viral has co-edited many books including  Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System, Regulating Wall Street: The Dodd‐Frank Act and the New Architecture of Global Finance. He is also the co‐author of the book Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Debacle of Mortgage Finance.