Commentary
During the 2008 financial crisis, banks failed because they assumed too much credit risk by holding complex assets that defaulted. So far during the 2023 crisis, banks have failed because they took on too much interest rate risk by holding too much long-term fixed-rate debt, including U.S. Treasuries. That’s a mistake undergrad economics majors aren’t supposed to make, which raises the question of who’s running major financial intermediaries.
