The Fed and Lehman Brothers: setting the record straight on a financial disaster

4,998 views · Published 8 October 2018 · 1:18:04 · Indexed 29 September 2026

Channel: LSE · 2018 · Education

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Why didn’t the Federal Reserve rescue Lehman Brothers?

This lecture will debunk the explanation given by Fed officials–lack of legal authority–and explore the real reasons for the decision to let Lehman fail. 

Laurence Ball is Professor of Economics and Department Chair at Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a consultant for the International Monetary Fund.

Ricardo Reis is the A W Phillips Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. He is a consultant to central banks around the world, and is former the chief editor of the Journal of Monetary Economics.

The Department of Economics at LSE is one of the largest economics departments in the world. Its size ensures that all areas of economics are strongly represented in both research and teaching.

The Centre For Macroeconomics brings together world-class experts to carry out pioneering research on the global economic crisis and to help design policies that alleviate it.

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