The Swiss Miracle ? Analysis of the actions and monetary policy changes of the Swiss National Bank during and after the Great Financial Crisis of 2007 / 08

Diplôme Master The Swiss Miracle ? Analysis of the actions and monetary policy changes of the Swiss National Bank during and after the Great Financial Crisis of 2007 / 08 eng 2021-08-31 author Hirt Balthazar 858177 director Flores Zendejas Juan 0000-0003-2800-7258 685481 <p>Economic crises have struck nations of the world for a long time. Financial panics and shocks have existed since the seventeenth century, and their rate of appearance has increased as time went by. The impact of such crises has also become more detrimental, especially in the past hundred years, as the economic system of the developed countries of the world became very developed. The handling of the crises was very often confused and inefficient. In order to counter this, nations around the globe founded central banks, institutions whose role is to maintain stability and develop strategies to ensure prosperity by concentrating this task under the command of a single institution instead of several. The bank controls the interest rate and the inflation rate of the currency by printing money when needed. The case of Switzerland is particularly interesting for us. Indeed, the country has been well known for being heavily centered towards finance and the banking system. Benefiting from an excellent reputation for the stability of its economy, the Swiss franc also enjoys a privileged position as a safe haven currency. Switzerland also hosts two of the biggest banking institutions of the world, UBS and Crédit Suisse, whose combined balance sheet exceeds the GDP of the nation tenfold. The economic position of Switzerland thus increases the importance and the necessity of having an efficient central bank. In 2007 and 2008, the world was struck with one of the biggest financial crises the mankind has ever known. The banking system and finance were severely impacted and a huge amount of nations throughout the world entered a profound economic recession. The central banks of the impacted countries, as the lenders of last resort, began to act by using the different macroeconomic tools at their disposal to come to the rescue of the domestic banks that were struck by the crisis. On multiple occasions, Switzerland has been presented as a nation that managed to overcome the effects of the crisis (as well as the subsequent Eurozone crisis) much better than their neighboring countries. Since the principal protagonists during a financial crisis are the central banks, it seems logical to believe that the Swiss National Bank has undertaken monetary policies and crucial decisions that the central banks of other nations did not. I am also assuming that the safe haven currency of Switzerland has played a major role in both the impact of the crisis and the decision making of the central bank. My analysis differs from the existing literature as I am exploring the changes in the Swiss National Bank due to the two consecutives crises. I am also increasing the emphasis on the case of Switzerland's top banks, as their situation during the crisis has had a considerable impact on the decision making of the Swiss National Bank. Finally, the topic I have chosen is of particular relevance as Switzerland and its embeddedness in the financial world means that the country will very often be struck by large-scale crises. It is essential to analyze the monetary policy decisions by the SNB during the two crises in order to prepare for the future.</p> Analysis of the actions Swiss Miracle Monetary policy changes Swiss National Bank Great Financial Crisis of 2007 / 08 Swiss franc Dewey 330 Dewey 330.9 Master in Political Economy of Capitalism 193 Institut d'histoire économique Paul Bairoch TE 123 Département d'histoire, économie et société T5 false b647705b-f1ff-4653-a609-6c42d5df235a Master thesis Public Balthazar Hirt's Completed Master T.pdf 1087226 application/pdf openAccess Faculté des sciences de la société / Institut d'histoire économique Paul Bairoch Faculté des sciences de la société / Département d'histoire, économie et société

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The Swiss Miracle ? Analysis of the actions and monetary policy changes of the Swiss National Bank during and after the Great Financial Crisis of 2007 / 08				2021	684	1,622

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Hirt, Balthazar