Replication data for: AIG in Hindsight

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
jep_mcdonald_paulson			10/21/2021 10:27:AM
LICENSE.txt	text/plain	14.6 KB	10/12/2019 02:03:PM

Project Citation:

McDonald, Robert, and Paulson, Anna. Replication data for: AIG in Hindsight. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2015. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-12. https://doi.org/10.3886/E113952V1

Project Description

Summary: The near-failure on September 16, 2008, of American International Group (AIG) was an iconic moment in the financial crisis. Two large bets on real estate made with funding vulnerable to bank-run-like dynamics pushed AIG to the brink of bankruptcy. AIG used securities lending to transform insurance company assets into residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations, ultimately losing at least $21 billion and threatening the solvency of the life insurance companies. AIG also sold insurance on multisector collateralized debt obligations, backed by real estate assets, ultimately losing more than $30 billion. These activities were apparently motivated by a belief that AIG's real estate bets would not suffer defaults and were "money-good." We find that these securities have in fact suffered write-downs and that the stark "money-good" claim can be rejected. Ultimately, both liquidity and solvency were issues for AIG.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: Ficial crisis; Insurance; Credit Default Swaps; AIG

JEL Classification:
      G01 Financial Crises
      G22 Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
      G28 Financial Institutions and Services: Government Policy and Regulation
      G33 Bankruptcy; Liquidation
      H81 Governmental Loans; Loan Guarantees; Credits; Grants; Bailouts

Data Type(s): administrative records data; event/transaction data; text

Collection Notes: Data in this repository is publicly available, but much of the data in the paper is proprietary and could not be provided.

Methodology

Data Source: Various

Unit(s) of Observation: Ficial reports from ficial institutions and regulators,

Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V1 [2019-10-12]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as it arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.