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Europe’s Financial Alchemy

It is universally recognized that a key factor behind the financial crisis was the diffusion of collateralized debt obligations, which transformed lower-rated debt into highly rated debt. And now Europe has embraced this egregious financial alchemy, in the form of the European Financial Stability Facility.

CHICAGO – It is universally recognized that a key factor underlying the 2007-2008 financial crisis was the diffusion of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), the infamous special-purpose vehicles that transformed lower-rated debt into highly rated debt. As these structures lost popularity on Wall Street, however, they gained popularity on the other side of the Atlantic.

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