4 - The Selective Rise of Macro-prudential Ideas in the Wake of the Crisis

Summary

Chapter 4 zooms in on the attempt of the expert network to shape the post-crisis financial regulatory agenda from the beginning of the crisis in 2007 to 2009. While central to the crisis analysis from the beginning, the chapter shows how most of the macro-prudential regulatory reform efforts were not able to impose themselves, in particular the installation of anti-cyclical policy tools for the shadow banking sector. While efforts seeking to address the interconnectedness of the financial system and increase its resilience by raising capital buffers of systemically important banks were agreed upon at the international level, efforts to address the procyclical character of the financial system were largely transformed into research projects, seeking to prove the existence of such procyclical phenomena. The chapter links these developments to the immaturity of the idea of the financial cycle, which up to that point had remained marginal in academic and regulatory science. Rather than being agreed on at the global level, the installation of monitoring frameworks and anti-cyclical tools was then delegated to the national level, where central banks were placed in charge.