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Principles of Macroeconomics / Unit 11   MAC 1020 short lesson, about 20 seconds

How Banks Fail

Captions available

The idea

Two things sink a bank. Unexpected defaults cut the value of its loans below what the balance sheet assumed. Or a maturity mismatch bites: deposits can leave at once while loans repay over decades.

In practice

Diversifying loans across customers, industries and regions defends against the first.

Where people slip

A broad recession defeats diversification, because the losses arrive together.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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