ABSTRACT

The policy responses of major central banks to the Covid-19 financial and economic crisis were faster, larger, and broader in scope than those in response to the 2008 global financial crisis. This article explains in detail the conventional and unconventional measures adopted by the U.S. Federal Reserve and reviews similar measures adopted by the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. Apart from lowering interest rates and acting as lenders of last resort to financial institutions, these central banks embraced large scale asset purchases as a core crisis fighting tool, with the corresponding expansion in balance sheet that they entail. The article connects this change in emphasis in central bank intervention to the normalization of shadow banking, or market-based financial intermediation, that happened between the two crises. Other extensions of the role of central banks made possible by the scope of the policy responses to Covid-19, including direct support to sectors beyond the financial industry, are also explored.

摘要

与应对 2008 年全球金融危机的政策相比，主要中央银行对 Covid-19 金融和经济危机的政策反应更快、更大、范围更广。本文详细解释了美联储采取的常规和非常规措施，并回顾了英格兰银行、加拿大银行、欧洲中央银行和日本银行采取的类似措施。除了降低利率和充当金融机构的最后贷款人之外，这些央行还将大规模资产购买作为应对危机的核心工具，并相应地扩大资产负债表。这篇文章将中央银行干预重点的变化与影子银行或基于市场的金融中介的正常化联系起来，这发生在两次危机之间。还探讨了通过对 Covid-19 的政策反应范围而使中央银行作用的其他扩展，包括对金融业以外的部门的直接支持。