The massive blackout that occurred in August 2003 left over 50 million people in the northeastern and midwestern parts of the United States without electricity and caused billions of dollars in economic losses. This event highlighted the importance of sustainable and resilient energy infrastructure. Our study examines the impact of this blackout on the sustainability of financial markets by analyzing the liquidity and information asymmetry of U.S. stocks listed on major exchanges. Our results show that the blackout had a negative impact on the financial market’s liquidity, as evidenced by a significant widening of bid–ask spreads and a decrease in the market quality index. We also find an increase in information asymmetry during the blackout period, as measured by higher realized spreads. Furthermore, our study reveals that the blackout had a border impact on global financial markets and the negative effect on liquidity persisted even after two weeks.

Liquidity plays an important role in explaining how banks determine their allocation of funds. This paper examines whether this fact can explain yield spreads and the term structure of interest rates. The paper models banks' demand for liquidity in a manner similar to that often used to study household liquidity needs, namely, by using a cash‐in‐advance type model. The paper finds that the cash‐in‐advance constraint (liquidity constraint) plays an important role in determining yield spreads. The empirical part of the paper shows that the expectations hypothesis might be salvaged when account is taken of the liquidity premium and the risk premium.