Why don't the bailouts work? Design of a new financial system versus a return to normalcy

The innovative support measures introduced by the US Central Bank and Treasury in response to the current crisis to bolster bank balance sheets have had little success in restoring liquidity to financial markets. These policies mirror similar policies employed in the 1930s in the USA and the 1990s in Japan, in both cases with little impact. This paper identifies three policies impacting incomes rather than prices, the assessment of system failure, and proposals for system design that were employed in dealing with prior financial crises. That they have not been introduced in response to the present crisis may explain why current measures have not yet had their intended impact of restoring bank lending to the productive economy. Copyright The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.