Towards an operational framework for financial stability: "fuzzy" measurement and its consequences

Claudio Borio and Mathias Drehmann

No 284, BIS Working Papers from Bank for International Settlements

Abstract: Over the last decade or so, addressing financial instability has become a policy priority. Despite the efforts made, policymakers are still a long way from developing a satisfactory operational framework. A major challenge complicating this task is the "fuzziness" with which financial (in)stability can be measured. We review the available measurement methodologies and point out several weaknesses. In particular, we caution against heavy reliance on the current generation of macro stress tests, arguing that they can lull policymakers into a false sense of security. Nonetheless, we argue that the "fuzziness" in measurement does not prevent further progress towards an operational framework, as long as it is appropriately accounted for. Crucial features of that framework include: strengthening the macroprudential orientation of financial regulation and supervision; addressing more systematically the procyclicality of the financial system; relying as far as possible on automatic stabilisers rather than discretion, thereby lessening the burden on the real-time measurement of financial stability risks; and setting up institutional arrangements that leverage the comparative expertise of the various authorities involved in safeguarding financial stability, not least financial supervisors and central banks.

Keywords: financial (in)stability; risk measurement; macroprudential; procyclicality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2009-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (171)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.bis.org/publ/work284.pdf Full PDF document (application/pdf)
http://www.bis.org/publ/work284.htm (text/html)

Related works:
Chapter: Toward an Operational Framework for Financial Stability: “Fuzzy” Measurement and Its Consequences (2011)
Working Paper: Towards an Operational Framework for Financial Stability: "Fuzzy" Measurement and its Consequences (2009)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bis:biswps:284

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in BIS Working Papers from Bank for International Settlements Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Martin Fessler ().