News Around Webster: Geraghty-Rathert, Hochreiter, Indjikian

Recent professional news and achievements for Webster University faculty members include:

Geraghty-Rather Delivers NALA Keynote on Ginsburg

Anne Geraghty-Rathert, JD, professor in the Department of Law, Crime and Social Justice at Webster University in St. Louis, gave the keynote address at the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) annual national conference on July 22, 2021. Her topic was "The Lasting Legal Legacy of United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg."

Indjikian on Global Economy Panel at Horasis India

Rouben Indjikian, professor of management and economics at Webster University Geneva, appeared on a panel discussion at Horasis India Meeting 2021 about the tradeoff between national growth and global sustainability standards and related energy economy mix.

Watch the panel, "Balancing Economic and Global Goals," here:

Hochreiter Paper in Journal of Financial Stability

Dr. Ronald Hochreiter, associate professor of finance at Webster Vienna Private University, co-authored a paper for the Journal of Financial Stability, which provides a forum for rigorous academic discussion on the topic of financial crises. Hochreiter's paper, “How are network centrality metrics related to interest rates in the Mexican secured and unsecured interbank markets?” is part of the August 2021 issue and can be found here.

Abstract: In financial stability, it is essential to know the determinants of interest rates in interbank markets because they are important vehicles for liquidity allocation among banks and are relevant for monetary policy transmission. Recent research indicates that banks with excess liquidity exercise their market power by rationing liquidity during periods of financial stress. This confirms the value of knowing the banks connections and identifying liquidity spreaders in such markets to manage contagion risk, liquidity hoarding and to preserve financial stability. In addition to well studied bank features such as size, liquidity and credit risk, we study which network metrics relate to interest rates during different periods.

Using transaction level data on unsecured and secured lending, we apply an approach that employs network theory, econometric models and machine learning to analyze the structural properties of the secured and un-secured interbank markets in Mexico. Our findings support the “too-interconnected-to-fail” hypothesis. In the secured interbank market, PageRank shows a relationship with interest rates, while metrics associated with the notion of influence and systemic risk (Katz and DebtRank) are relevant in the unsecured interbank market. In general, a bank with high centrality lends at higher rates and gets funding at lower rates.