TY - UNPD A1 - Laux, Christian A1 - Leuz, Christian T1 - Did fair-value accounting contribute to the financial crisis? T2 - Center for Financial Studies (Frankfurt am Main): CFS working paper series ; No. 2009,22 N2 - The recent financial crisis has led to a major debate about fair-value accounting. Many critics have argued that fair-value accounting, often also called mark-to-market accounting, has significantly contributed to the financial crisis or, at least, exacerbated its severity. In this paper, we assess these arguments and examine the role of fair-value accounting in the financial crisis using descriptive data and empirical evidence. Based on our analysis, it is unlikely that fair-value accounting added to the severity of the current financial crisis in a major way. While there may have been downward spirals or asset-fire sales in certain markets, we find little evidence that these effects are the result of fair-value accounting. We also find little support for claims that fair-value accounting leads to excessive write-downs of banks’ assets. If anything, empirical evidence to date points in the opposite direction, that is, towards overvaluation of bank assets. T3 - CFS working paper series - 2009, 22 KW - Mark-to-Market Accounting KW - Financial Institutions KW - Liquidity KW - Financial Crisis KW - Banks KW - Financial Regulation KW - Procyclicality KW - Contagion KW - Tageswert KW - Buchführung KW - Bilanz KW - Finanzkrise Y1 - 2009 UR - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/7288 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-72719 ER -