Externalities and Macroprudential Policy

Abstract

As for any form of government intervention, macroprudential policy should be justified by market failures. This paper discusses three key externalities across financial institutions and from financial institutions to the real economy that rationalize the need for macroprudential policy: externalities related to strategic complementarities, fire sales and interconnectedness. We link each externality to recently proposed macroprudential policy tools, and argue that although various tools can correct the same externality, these tools are best seen as complements rather than substitutes.