Norges Bank

Staff Memo

Two essays on the magic number 4

Forfatter:
Sigbjørn Atle Berg, Jan F. Qvigstad and Nikka Husom Vonen
Serie:
Staff Memo
Nummer:
2/2011

Would the simple 4 per cent rule have uncovered that there was a crisis in the offing?
The aftermath of the recent financial crisis has demonstrated that lax fiscal policy may have widespread and severe consequences. In this paper, we examine how selected variables may be useful indicators of an unsustainable fiscal/economical condition.

When is the banking industry too large?
A government may have only a limited capacity to rescue its banking sector if a crisis should occur. Based on the experiences from the recent international crisis, this note discusses how large the banking sector can become before the rescue capacity of the government becomes insufficient.

Staff Memo inneholder utredninger og dokumentasjon skrevet av Norges Banks ansatte og andre forfattere tilknyttet Norges Bank. Synspunkter og konklusjoner i arbeidene er ikke nødvendigvis representative for Norges Bank.

ISSN 1504-2596 (online)

Publisert 28. februar 2011 15:00
Publisert 28. februar 2011 15:00