Marking to Market, Liquidity, and Financial Stability

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Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, 2005 - Accounting and price fluctuations - 32 pages
This paper explores the financial stability implications of mark-to-market accounting, in particular its tendency to amplify financial cycles and the "reach for yield". Market prices play a dual role. Not only do they serve as a signal of the underlying fundamentals and the actions taken by market participants, they also serve a certification role and thereby influence these actions. When actions affect prices, and prices affect actions, the loop thus created can generate amplified responses - both in creating bubble-like booms in asset prices, and also in magnifying distress episodes in downturns.

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