Financial crises are often characterized by sharp reductions in liquidity followed by cascades of falling prices. Researchers are making progress in work to understand the levels of liquidity on a daily basis, but understanding the vulnerability of liquidity to market shocks remains a challenge. We develop an agent-based model with the objective of evaluating the market dynamics that lead the m...

This paper examines how hedge funds manage their market risk according to changes in aggregate liquidity conditions. Using a large sample of equity-oriented hedge funds during the period of 1994–2008, we find strong evidence that hedge-fund managers possess the ability to time market liquidity at both the style category level and the individual fund level. They increase (decrease) their portfol...

The paper develops a model to study the optimal choice of the central bank haircut policy. In the presence of uncertainties regrading liquidity needs and asset prices, there is a trade-off between providing liquidity to constrained agents and controlling the abundance of liquidity in the economy. The choice of the haircut involves balancing impacts on the liquidity positions of agents with diff...

Competition among stock exchanges has increased dramatically over the last decade. To attract trading volume, most exchanges introduced makertaker fees, an incentive scheme that rewards liquidity suppliers and charges liquidity demanders. Using a change in fees on the Toronto Stock Exchange, we analyze how the breakdown of trading fees between liquidity demanders and suppliers affects market ou...

We study the determination of liquidity provision in the single-name credit default swap (CDS) market as measured by the number of distinct dealers providing quotes. We find that liquidity is concentrated among large obligors and those near the investment-grade/speculative-grade cutoff. Consistent with endogenous liquidity provision by informed financial institutions, more liquidity is associat...

We model financial market liquidity as provided by financially constrained arbitrageurs. Market liquidity increases with the level of arbitrage capital, i.e., internal and external capital arbitrageurs can access frictionlessly. We show that liquidity dry-ups follow periods of low returns of arbitrageurs’ risky investment opportunities, and that liquidity is correlated across markets. A welfare...

The global financial crisis highlighted the importance of ensuring that the financial system has adequate liquidity to withstand adverse circumstances. The funding pressures that began in 2007 underlined the acute deficiencies in the liquidity-risk-management practices of some banks, and the severity of the ensuing crisis required massive public sector support to stem the liquidity spiral and m...

This paper contributes to the debate about the extent to which liquidity risk affects asset prices. Motivated by evidence on downward liquidity spirals, flights to liquidity and investor perceptions of risk, we develop and test a liquidity-adjusted capital asset pricing model in which the key innovation is separating liquidity risk into asymmetric upside and downside risks. Our model bridges th...

The importance of maintaining sufficient liquidity in financial markets is emphasised strongly in the academic literature. During the 1990s the United Kingdom monetary authorities introduced a number of structural reforms in the government bond market, aimed at improving secondary market liquidity. In this paper we examine the impact of the reforms by attempting to ascertain if liquidity levels...

Using a large data set on credit default swaps, we study how default risk interacts with interest-rate risk and liquidity risk to jointly determine the term structure of credit spreads. We classify the reference companies into two broad industry sectors, two broad credit rating classes, and two liquidity groups. We develop a class of dynamic term structure models that include (i) two benchmark ...