Bagehot was a Shadow Banker: Shadow Banking, Central Banking, and the Future of Global Finance

Abstract

At the heart of both the modern shadow banking system and the 19th century banking system described by Walter Bagehot is the wholesale money market, with the central bank providing a liquidity backstop. We characterize shadow banking as “money market funding of capital market lending” and construct a model of such a system with dealers making markets and setting prices for funding and risk. Using this model, we describe the secular expansion of the market-based credit system and its rapid collapse during the global financial crisis. The model also clarifies the economic functions of the market-based credit system, the role of the central bank in such a system, and the global character of US dollar funding markets.

Keywords: shadow banking, central banking

JEL Classification: E58, E44, F33