Two dark armchairs and a small table in a room with hardwood floors

Article

Q&A with Benjamin Lester

Q3 2021

Economic Insights — The author of this issue's article about the corporate bond market during COVID-19 talks about the importance of market frictions.

Senior economic advisor and economist Benjamin Lester has long been interested in market frictions. In this Q&A, he describes how market frictions can help us make sense of the liquidity crisis that swept the corporate bond market during COVID-19.

This article appeared in the Third Quarter 2021 edition of Economic Insights. Download and read the full issue.

View the Full Article

Corporate Bond Liquidity During the COVID-19 Crisis

Mahyar Kargar,
Benjamin Lester,
David Lindsay,
Shuo Liu,
Pierre-Olivier Weill &
Diego Zúñiga

November 2020

WP 20-43 - We study liquidity conditions in the corporate bond market during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effects of the unprecedented interventions by the Federal Reserve.

Monetary Policy

Article

Implementing Monetary Policy in a Changing Federal Funds Market

Benjamin Lester

Q2 2019

Economic Insights — Benjamin Lester explores how the Fed set interest rates before, during, and after the Great Recession, and how the distribution of reserves might help it understand when those reserves are no longer 'ample.'

Economic Insights

Banking and Financial Markets

Working Paper

Frictional Intermediation in Over-the-Counter Markets

Julien Hugonnier,
Benjamin Lester &
Pierre-Olivier Weill

January 2019

WP 19-10 - We extend Duffie, Gârleanu, and Pedersen’s (2005) search-theoretic model of over-the-counter (OTC) asset markets, allowing for a decentralized inter-dealer market with arbitrary heterogeneity in dealers’ valuations or inventory costs.