Systemic Risk Tomography

In April 2010 Europe was shocked by the Greek financial turmoil. At that time, the global financial crisis, which started in the summer of 2007 and reached systemic dimensions in September 2008 with the Lehman Brothers’ crash, took a new course. An adverse feedback loop between sovereign and bank risks reflected into bubble-like spreads, as if financial markets had received a wake-up call concerning the disregarded structural vulnerability of economies at risk. These events inspired the SYRTO project to “think and rethink” the economic and financial system and to conceive it as an “ensemble” of Sovereigns and Banks with other Financial Intermediaries and Corporations. Systemic Risk Tomography: Signals, Measurement and Transmission Channels proposes a novel way to explore the financial system by sectioning each part of it and analyzing all relevant inter-relationships. The financial system is inspected as a biological entity to identify the main risk signals and to provide the correct measures of prevention and intervention.

Monica Billio is Full Professor of Econometrics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy. She is participating in many research projects financed by the European Commission, Eurostat and the Italian Ministry of Research. She was scientific co-coordinator of the SYRTO project. Loriana Pelizzon is Full Professor of Economics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy. She is also the program director of the Systemic Risk Lab and Chair of Law and Finance at Research Centre SAFE at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Roberto Savona is Professor of Financial Markets and Institutions at the University of Brescia, Italy. He served as a Member of the Steering Committee of the Macro-prudential Research Network – ECB. He was primary and scientific coordinator of the SYRTO project.