15 June 2011 Fixed Income Research http://www.credit-suisse.com/researchandanalytics A Nash Equilibrium for Greece Quantitative Credit Strategy Research Analysts Christian Schwarz +44 20 7888 3161 [email protected] Helen Haworth +44 20 7888 0757 [email protected] Chiraag Somaia +44 20 7888 2776 [email protected] Joachim Edery +44 20 7888 7382 [email protected] William Porter +44 20 7888 1207 [email protected] Applying Game Theory to the Greek debt crisis The Greek situation is highly complex and very crowded – there are a multitude of parties involved, each with intertwined and highly intra-dependent strategies, and different vested interests. In other words, it is a situation that is highly suitable for analysis using Game Theory. One of the most famous equilibria is the Nash equilibrium. This is defined as a combination of strategies whose payoff no player can improve by altering his/her strategy unilaterally. In the context of the Greek debt crisis, we analyse two games: The private sector loss participation game We find that for a private sector institution the decision to “participate” or not is a classic “prisoner’s dilemma”. In a single-step game the Nash equilibrium is for all players to “free ride”, i.e., not to “participate”, irrespective of whether they are banks or hedge funds. In a multi-step game this strategy ceases to dominate and is dominated by a mixed strategy between “participate” and “free ride” as the players have to balance fear of punishment in the next step (e.g., regulation) with the benefits of not cooperating this time. The “whole” Greek multiplayer situation We consider a multiplayer game with the following “players”: the ECB, the private sector, the IMF, Germany and other northern European countries, France, Greece and the rating agencies. Each player has the choice of several strategies. The result is a Nash equilibrium that does not involve private sector loss sharing if it results in Greek government bonds being downgraded to default and hence not being eligible as collateral at the ECB. In other words, under these constraints, private sector loss sharing cannot be part of a Nash equilibrium. We also show how the result can be stressed by altering our inputs. Greece’s incentive to implement further austerity measures plays a crucial role here. In a multi-step game the private sector’s fear of “punishment” for not participating in the loss-sharing results in a different Nash equilibrium. The result here is a Nash equilibrium, in which the ECB would accept Greek government debt as collateral despite it being downgraded to default by the rating agencies. However, there are likely to be workarounds, for example a technicality about the timing and duration of a default rating. We conclude that the ECB's objections will eventually be overcome. Subsequently, compulsion becomes less of a challenge. Because free-loading is to be rewarded, we would expect rotation among holders to reduce this fear of punishment, making compulsion eventually necessary. ANALYST CERTIFICATIONS AND IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES ARE IN THE DISCLOSURE APPENDIX. FOR OTHER IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES, PLEASE REFER TO https://firesearchdisclosure.credit-suisse.com. 15 June 2011 Motivation The Greek situation is highly complex and very crowded – there are a multitude of parties involved, each with intertwined and highly intra-dependent strategies, and different vested interests. In other words, it is a situation that is highly suitable to be analysed using Game Theory. Game Theory enables us to understand the problem at hand in its full complexity by breaking it down into its key determining components. Furthermore, it allows us to find and identify equilibria and assess the measures that are needed to alter those equilibria. Basics of Game Theory In mathematics, Game Theory models strategic situations, or games, in which an individual’s success in making choices depends on the choices of others 1 . In the mathematical sense, a game consists of a set of players, possible choices (or strategies) available to each player and the specifications of payoffs (e.g., utility functions) to each player for each strategy. Equilibria One of the aims of game theory is to find equilibria in the respective games. One of the most famous equilibria is the Nash equilibrium, named after the famous mathematician John Forbes Nash, who, together with John Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten, won the Nobel Memorial Price in Economic Sciences in 1994. A Nash equilibrium is defined as a combination of strategies whose payoff no player can unilaterally improve by altering his/her strategy. An example is most easily explained by showing when a strategy is not a Nash equilibrium: if a player can improve his/her payoff from a given combination of strategies (i.e., combination of each player’s single strategy) by changing his/her choice, that combination of strategies cannot be a Nash equilibrium. Pareto efficiency is defined slightly differently. Given a certain combination of players’ strategies, a change to a different combination of strategies that makes at least one player better off without deteriorating the outcomes for the other players is called a pareto improvement. A combination of strategies is called pareto efficient or optimal if no further pareto improvements can be achieved. Nash equilibria therefore do not have to be pareto optimal. An additional important concept in Game Theory is Strategic Dominance. A strategy for a given player dominates other strategies of the same player if the player would be better off choosing this strategy no matter what his opponents decide to choose. Games are commonly expressed in either extensive or normal (strategic) form. Extensive form games (visualized via a decision tree) are usually used when there is an ordered sequence of players’ decisions. Games whose players make their decisions at the same time can be presented in normal form and in the case of a two-player game they are represented by a matrix illustrating the players, strategies and payoffs. In the case of a multiplayer game with two or more strategies per player the two-dimensionality of a matrix is not sufficient and so we chose to represent each combination of strategies by an n-tuple (a 3-tuple is a triple, a 4-tuple is a quadruple, etc.) where n is the number of players and each coordinate of this n-tuple represents the choice of strategy of the respective player. 1 A Nash Equilibrium for Greece Myerson, Roger B. (1991), Game theory: analysis of conflict 2 15 June 2011 Prisoner’s dilemma One of the most famous games is “prisoner’s dilemma”, illustrated in Exhibit 1. It demonstrates why two players might not cooperate even if it would be better for each of them. In the classic form of this game, the strategy of cooperating is strictly dominated by the strategy of not cooperating or defecting – in other words, both players have a preference for the “no cooperation” strategy independent of their opponent’s choice – resulting in the only possible equilibrium being both players defecting. Despite being pareto-suboptimal, the Nash equilibrium is also present in this game. However, it assumes that all players will act rationally and that the game is being played in a single instance. If the game is repeated several times, each player has the opportunity to “punish” the other player for not choosing to cooperate in the previous game by selecting to defect this time. If the number of games is known by the players in advance, the theoretic result is still that every player will choose to not cooperate in every instance of the game played. However, if the number of instances played is either infinite or not known to the players then the continuously defecting strategy is not an equilibrium. In this case the incentive to defect can be overruled by the fear of future punishment. Exhibit 1: The classic prisoner’s dilemma Cooperating means to cooperate with the other player, i.e., to not confess Prisoner B Prisoner A Stays silent (cooperates) confesses (defects) Stays silent (cooperates) Each serves 1 month Prisoner A: 1 year, Prisoner B: Confesses (defects) Prisoner A: goes free, goes free Each serves 3 months Prisoner B: serves 1 year Source: Credit Suisse There are obviously many further concepts and sub-theories within the subject of Game Theory; however, our intention is just to give the reader a quick introduction to the field as a basis for our conclusions in the following sections. Our aim is to identify the potential equilibria for the current situation in Greece and a couple of “sub-games”. We believe we have found Nash equilibria in most of these. This does not mean that the identified strategies have to be adopted by the parties involved or that they are likely to be, as these conclusions are dependent on further conditions. The detailed conditions required to guarantee that a Nash equilibrium exists are beyond the scope of this note, but basically require all players to understand the “game” they are playing, act rationally and maximize their expected payoff. Applying Game Theory to the Greek debt crisis Private sector participation One of the most pressing decisions that currently has to be made by various parties currently is whether the private sector needs to participate in the loss sharing in a potential Greek restructuring. We start analysing this situation by assuming two players, a bank that is holding Greek government bonds in its banking book and another player that can be thought of as all other banks that are in the same situation. The strategies available to each of these two players are either to voluntarily participate in the loss sharing or to “free ride”, i.e., not participate. A single instance of this game is illustrated in Exhibit 2 . For both players the “participate” strategy is strictly dominated by the “free ride” strategy – i.e., this is always their best strategy regardless of what the other players decide, resulting in the double “free ride” strategy being a Nash equilibrium. It can easily be shown that the absolute numbers do not matter in the sense that only their order has an impact on the A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 3 15 June 2011 results, i.e., the equilibria of this game. This is a classic representation of the prisoner’s dilemma. If all private sector institutions choose not to participate, no institution will take losses, therefore likely aggravating the severity of the situation for Greece and hence increasing the chance of potential future losses exceeding the ones suffered by a combination of strategies in which every player participated. Exhibit 2: “Private sector loss sharing game between two banks” Cells in the bottom right represent the payoff functions of each player in brackets. The left number is the payoff for the row player, in this case Bank A and the second number is the payoff for the column player in this case Bank B. Bank A Participate Free Ride Bank B Participate (-1,-1) (0,-10) Free Ride (-10,0) (-5,-5) Source: Credit Suisse In a slight alteration of this game we replace one of the banks by a hedge fund. Most likely a hedge fund has less incentive to voluntarily participate in the private sector loss sharing, as it can be less coerced by officials to do so. An example of such a game can be seen in Exhibit 3. We adjust the cells in the matrix according to our idea that hedge funds would be less incentivized to participate on a voluntary basis, therefore, for example, making the payoff for the hedge fund even worse than in the previous game if it participates and the banks do not. Exhibit 3: “Private sector loss sharing game between a bank and a hedge fund” Cells in the bottom right represent the payoff functions of each player in brackets. The left number is the payoff for the row player, in this case the Bank and the second number is the payoff for the column player in this case the Hedge Fund. Bank Participate Free Ride Hedge Fund Participate (-1,-2) (0,-12) Free Ride (-10,1) (-5,-5) Source: Credit Suisse This would suggest that both highly regulated and less constrained institutions would choose not to participate in the loss sharing as, for example, recently envisaged by the German finance ministry. We don’t think that a private sector loss sharing, once it is agreed by the EU, is actually likely to end up having a minimal participation rate among banks and other institutions, as suggested by this. And in fact, in the more realistic multi-stage version of this game, the double “free ride” strategy will not be an equilibrium in every instance of the game, provided the number of games is not known. The conclusion here is that the players, i.e., the private sector, will choose their strategy in every instance of the game depending on how likely and painful a punishment there might be in the next game versus the potential benefit they might gain from choosing to “free ride” this time. There are two interpretations that apply to the Greek situation in our opinion: 1. There might quite likely be a second or third round of potential loss sharing agreements and players not participating in the first one will be punished in the next one. 2. Regulated entities deal with the public sector in many different ways and occasions. Not participating in this situation, i.e., the loss sharing of Greek debt, might potentially result in negative outcomes in other areas, e.g., new capital requirements. Banks, in particular, therefore will not necessarily choose to “free ride” in this instance if they feel the potential gain could be offset by detrimental effects elsewhere. A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 4 15 June 2011 Applying Game Theory to the Greek debt crisis, part two The players and their strategies we consider in this game are 1. The ECB: Continue to allow Greek government bonds as collateral for its repo operations: Yes or No 2. The private sector: Voluntarily participate in the loss sharing: Yes or No 3. The IMF: Pay the 5th tranche of the Greek bail-out package: Yes or No 4. Northern Europe, e.g., Germany, the Netherlands, Finland: Create additional bailout package for Greece: Yes or No 5. France2: Create additional bail-out package for Greece: Yes or No 6. Greece: Implement further austerity measures and privatizations. Yes or No 7. The rating agencies: Determine a potential voluntary private sector participation a (selective) default rating event: Yes or No As explained above, such a multidimensional game is difficult to represent in matrix form. We therefore display it as a list of 7-tuples (since there are 7 players), where the first of the seven components represents the ECB’s decision (a “1” for Yes and a “0” for No), the second corresponds to the private sector’s choice (again, a “1” stands for Yes and a “0” for No) and so forth. The table of 128 (2 to the power of 7) possible combinations of strategies can be found in Exhibit 5. So far, so good. In order to fully specify the game we now need to determine the payoffs of each of the players in each of the strategy combinations (i.e., for each 7-tuple). For this game that would be 7*128=896 payoff values. Clearly too many. We therefore simplify the payoff functions by assuming that not every player’s payoff value is a function of every other player’s strategy choice. In fact, some of the above players might even have payoff values that are almost entirely determined by their own choice and another single player’s strategy. For example the rating agency’s payoff values might simply depend on its own choice of strategy and whether the private sector shares losses in a voluntary debt restructuring. This small simplification enables us to value the number of payoffs. Single step game Nash equilibrium rules out a private sector participation if it causes a rating default The payoff functions we have chosen for each player are in Exhibit 4. These are obviously highly subjective and we would be interested if readers have opposing views. However, it is important to keep in mind that the absolute values of the payout functions actually are not important; only their relative rankings impact the results. Our choice of payoff functions is driven by the following assumptions: 1. The ECB is positioning itself in a way that rules out any kind of restructuring that causes a rating downgrade. This is reflected in the preferential payoff values under the “no default” scenario. Furthermore the ECB clearly wants to prevent any concern regarding the soundness of the financial system and therefore is clearly incentivized to continue allowing Greek collateral for repo operations. 2 A Nash Equilibrium for Greece France is a separate player in this setup because of its public stance and therefore its payoff function in this game is different than Germany's and other northern European countries. 5 15 June 2011 2. According to its statutes, the IMF will not lend to a creditor if it doesn’t deem it to be on a sustainable debt path, which includes a 12-month window of available financing. For this to be the case, we think additional bail-out funds from the EU and further austerity measures will be needed. Furthermore we think that the IMF pulling out of the existing program will have negative implications, particularly for the probability of a successful further EU bail-out package and thus for the likelihood of the IMF getting its previously paid tranches of the original package back. 3. As stated in his letter and thereafter in a speech to the German parliament, Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German finance minister, expressed the view that Germany is in favour of voluntary private sector loss participation and in particular a voluntary seven-year maturity extension. Without this and also without further Greek austerity measures and privatisations it will be difficult to ‘sell’ an additional bail-out package to the German electorate. 4. France in contrast is opposed to a private sector loss participation, even on a voluntary basis, if it has the potential to trigger a rating default and therefore potentially contagion effects to other sovereigns and the European banking sector. Similar to Germany, it will find it politically difficult to approve additional bail-out funds without further Greek austerity measures and privatisations. 5. From Greece’s perspective, there is no need to implement further austerity measures and privatisations if there are to be no additional bail-out funds. The crucial variable for the Nash equilibrium we find in the analysis below is whether there is an incentive for Greece to implement extra measures when additional bailout funds from the IMF and the EU are forthcoming. In this section we assume this to be the case, i.e., no extra measures causes a payoff of -3 and further measures of 2, respectively, (with both conditional on further bail-out funds). As we explain, the solution changes if we change this assumption. 6. For Banks, which we use to represent the private sector, as discussed above there is no incentive to participate in some sort of loss sharing on a voluntary basis if they do not have to fear repercussions. Furthermore, a failure of the Troika-led bail-out has the potential to be disastrous for some banks, as some sort of hard restructuring event might unfold, leading to further contagion effects. 7. The rating agencies have been increasingly verbose in the recent past, more or less indicating that they will deem pretty much every kind of private sector involvement in a (voluntary) restructuring a (selective) default. A summary of the resulting pay-off functions per player and for each set of individual strategies can be found in Exhibit 6. The last column highlights the results of our algorithm to identify the Nash equilibrium. The first number in this column shows which player can alter his strategy to arrive at a better outcome. The second number identifies the strategy that the player can switch to from the current one to improve his situation. As an example “4 dominated by 13” in the fifth row of the table, means that player 4 can deviate from the current strategy (number five) to strategy number 13, thereby improving his payoff without anybody else changing his/her strategy. In this example, Germany improves its payoff from 10 to -5 by choosing to pay additional bail-out moneys rather than not as in strategy five. Very interestingly, the result is that there is only one Nash equilibrium, namely strategy 95, where 1. The ECB continues to take Greek collateral 2. The private sector does not participate in the loss sharing 3. The IMF pays the 5th tranche 4. Germany and France pay additional bail-out funds 5. Greece takes further austerity measures and privatises state assets 6. The rating agencies do not downgrade Greek government debt to (selective) default A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 6 15 June 2011 The result therefore is a Nash equilibrium that does not involve private sector loss sharing if it results in Greek government bonds being downgraded to default and hence not being eligible as collateral at the ECB. Under these constraints, private sector loss sharing cannot be part of a Nash equilibrium. That said, a Nash equilibrium does not need to be the actual final outcome of this situation, as further conditions must be met, as we mentioned earlier. In addition, we believe this also shows where the parties involved need to make the most progress in order for the Greek situation to improve. In other words, in our view, they need to find a way in which the desired level of participation does not trigger a default or, alternatively, convince the ECB to continue accepting Greek collateral for its Repo operations even with a default rating. Another very interesting observation is that if we change Greece’s pay-off function such that further austerity measures and privatisations are not beneficial to Greece (conditional on extra bail-out funds) – one could, for example, think about the Greek population and their incentives – the Nash equilibrium would be a strategy that is the same as the one discussed above, except for the player Greece, which would deviate from its strategy and not implement further steps. We find this very interesting and wonder if the recent calls for EU and/or IMF oversight in the Greek austerity measures and privatisation efforts are ways the authorities are trying to “change the pay-off function of Greece” to one that favours the original Nash equilibrium. A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 7 15 June 2011 Exhibit 4: Conditional payoff functions for each player Some pay-off functions are only dependent on the choice of strategy of the individual player and one further condition. Some others are dependent on a multitude of other conditions, connected by “&” signs. ECB Allow Greek collateral yes no IMF Rating default yes no -5 -10 0 -10 Pay 5th Tranche yes no Additional EU bail-out & Greek austerity yes no 0 -7 -5 -10 Pay additional bailout yes no Private participation & Greek austerity yes no 0 -5 -7 -10 Pay additional bailout yes no No rating default & Greek austerity yes no 0 -7 Germany France Greece Further austerity & privatisation yes no Banks Participate yes no Rating Agencies Default rating yes no IMF & EU bail-out yes -5 -10 no -2 -3 -10 -5 IMF & EU bailout & austerity yes no -2 0 Private sector losses yes -10 -5 no -1 -3 -2 0 Source: Credit Suisse A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 8 15 June 2011 Exhibit 5: Possible outcomes of combined strategies in the multiplayer game (1 of 2) Each row is a 7-tuple, where each component represents the choice a player can make Player Strategy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 A Nash Equilibrium for Greece ECB Allow Greek collateral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Banks Participate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 IMF Pay 5th Tranche 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Germany Pay additional bailout 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 France Pay additional bailout 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 Greece further Austerity & Privatisation 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 Rating A Rate Default 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 9 15 June 2011 Exhibit 5: Possible outcomes of combined strategies in the multiplayer game (2 of 2) Each row is a 7-tuple, where each component represents the choice a player can make Player Strategy 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 ECB Allow Greek collateral 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Banks Participate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 IMF Pay 5th Tranche 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Germany Pay additional bailout 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 France Pay additional bailout 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 Greece further Austerity & Privatisation 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 Rating A Rate Default 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 Source: Credit Suisse A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 10 15 June 2011 Exhibit 6: Payoff values per combined strategy and player (1 of 2) Each column holds the payoff of the respective player. Each row corresponds to a combination of strategies. The Nash equilibrium is highlighted in yellow. Strategy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 A Nash Equilibrium for Greece ECB -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 Banks -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 0 0 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -2 -2 IMF -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 0 0 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 0 0 Germany -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -7 -7 -10 -10 -7 -7 -5 -5 0 0 -5 -5 0 0 -10 -10 -7 -7 -10 -10 -7 -7 -5 -5 0 0 -5 -5 0 0 France -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 Greece -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -3 -3 -2 -2 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -3 -3 -2 -2 Rating Agencies 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 Dominated 5 dominated by 5 7 dominated by 1 6 dominated by 1 7 dominated by 3 4 dominated by 13 7 dominated by 5 6 dominated by 5 7 dominated by 7 5 dominated by 13 7 dominated by 9 6 dominated by 9 7 dominated by 11 3 dominated by 29 7 dominated by 13 6 dominated by 13 7 dominated by 15 5 dominated by 21 7 dominated by 17 6 dominated by 17 7 dominated by 19 4 dominated by 29 7 dominated by 21 6 dominated by 21 7 dominated by 23 5 dominated by 29 7 dominated by 25 6 dominated by 25 7 dominated by 27 6 dominated by 31 7 dominated by 29 1 dominated by 95 7 dominated by 31 7 dominated by 34 5 dominated by 38 7 dominated by 36 6 dominated by 34 7 dominated by 38 4 dominated by 46 7 dominated by 40 6 dominated by 38 7 dominated by 42 5 dominated by 46 7 dominated by 44 6 dominated by 42 7 dominated by 46 3 dominated by 62 7 dominated by 48 6 dominated by 46 7 dominated by 50 5 dominated by 54 7 dominated by 52 6 dominated by 50 7 dominated by 54 4 dominated by 62 7 dominated by 56 6 dominated by 54 7 dominated by 58 5 dominated by 62 7 dominated by 60 6 dominated by 58 7 dominated by 62 6 dominated by 64 7 dominated by 64 2 dominated by 32 11 15 June 2011 Exhibit 6: Payoff values per combined strategy and player (2 of 2) Each column holds the payoff of the respective player. Each row corresponds to a combination of strategies. The Nash equilibrium is highlighted in yellow. Strategy 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 ECB 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 Banks -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 0 0 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -2 -2 IMF -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 0 0 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 0 0 Germany -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -7 -7 -10 -10 -7 -7 -5 -5 0 0 -5 -5 0 0 -10 -10 -7 -7 -10 -10 -7 -7 -5 -5 0 0 -5 -5 0 0 France -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 Greece -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -3 -3 -2 -2 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -3 -3 -2 -2 Rating Agencies 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 5 7 6 7 4 7 6 7 5 7 6 7 3 7 6 7 5 7 6 7 4 7 6 7 5 7 6 7 6 7 Dominated dominated by 69 dominated by 65 dominated by 65 dominated by 67 dominated by 77 dominated by 69 dominated by 69 dominated by 71 dominated by 77 dominated by 73 dominated by 73 dominated by 75 dominated by 93 dominated by 77 dominated by 77 dominated by 79 dominated by 85 dominated by 81 dominated by 81 dominated by 83 dominated by 93 dominated by 85 dominated by 85 dominated by 87 dominated by 93 dominated by 89 dominated by 89 dominated by 91 dominated by 95 dominated by 93 7 dominated by 95 7 dominated by 98 5 dominated by 102 7 dominated by 100 6 dominated by 98 7 dominated by 102 4 dominated by 110 7 dominated by 104 6 dominated by 102 7 dominated by 106 5 dominated by 110 7 dominated by 108 6 dominated by 106 7 dominated by 110 3 dominated by 126 7 dominated by 112 6 dominated by 110 7 dominated by 114 5 dominated by 118 7 dominated by 116 6 dominated by 114 7 dominated by 118 4 dominated by 126 7 dominated by 120 6 dominated by 118 7 dominated by 122 5 dominated by 126 7 dominated by 124 6 dominated by 122 7 dominated by 126 6 dominated by 128 7 dominated by 128 2 dominated by 96 Source: Credit Suisse A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 12 15 June 2011 Multi-step game Nash equilibrium: The ECB continues to accept Greek collateral despite a rating downgrade to default In a multi-step game it becomes very interesting what happens after the first step has been played. As explained for the two-player, multi-step private sector participation game, the players “losing” in the first step will likely punish the players “free-riding” in the second step. According to their payoff values in the original Nash equilibrium, the player “losing” the most is Germany with a payoff of minus 5, lower than everyone else’s. We think this will likely have consequences for a second-step game, where exactly as described above, the players have to price in the chance that the player Germany will punish them for not cooperating in the first step. The player we consider the most sensitive to such a punishment is the private banking sector; junior to most other players, it is probably the most vulnerable to action by Germany. The design of the multi-step game is exactly the same as the first game with one small but important alteration: the way we incorporate the banking sector’s fear of punishment is by subtracting 3 from its payout function in the case where it chooses not to participate. The resulting payoff diagram can be seen in Exhibit 7. Exhibit 7: Payoff values for banks in a multi-step game We subtracted 3 from the bottom two numbers to reflect the fear of punishment in a future step Banks Participate yes no IMF & EU bailout & austerity yes no -2 -3 -10 -8 Source: Credit Suisse A summary of the resulting pay-off functions per player and for each set of individual strategies can be found in Exhibit 8. The last column shows that the original Nash equilibrium strategy is now dominated by strategy 127 because of the 2nd player, i.e., the banks, changing their choice from “no participation” to “participate”. This strategy in turn is dominated by the new Nash equilibrium strategy 128 because of the 7th player, i.e., the rating agencies, in turn changing their decision and downgrading Greek debt to default. So, for the multi-step game the result is that there is again only one Nash equilibrium, namely strategy 128, where 1. The ECB continues to take Greek collateral 2. The private Sector does participate in the loss sharing 3. The IMF pays the 5th tranche 4. Germany and France pay additional bail-out funds 5. Greece takes further austerity measures and privatises state assets 6. The rating agencies do downgrade Greek government debt to (selective) default The result therefore is a Nash equilibrium, in which the ECB would accept Greek government debt as collateral despite it being downgraded to default by the rating agencies3. 3 A Nash Equilibrium for Greece As before this comes with the warning that a Nash equilibrium does not need to be the actual final outcome of this situation, as further conditions must be met, as we mentioned earlier. 13 15 June 2011 There are likely to be workarounds to this dilemma for the ECB, potentially of a rather technical nature. As some of the rating agencies have already suggested there is the possibility that Greek government bonds are actually not downgraded to default on the day the voluntary private sector loss participation is announced but rather on the day of the actual implementation. This potentially leaves the door open for the rating agencies downgrading Greece to default on a Friday evening and by the time for example a debt exchange or maturity extension has been executed over the weekend the rating agencies could upgrade the rating back to non-default. As a result, the ECB would actually not need to take defaulted government debt as collateral and therefore associated negative implications, for example a threat to the banking system, could be averted. Finally, the threat of punishment probably will work less and less over time, as we think that the banking sector will gradually exit its Greek government bond positions by selling these (at a manageable trade-off between market prices and par) to less regulated entities, which will be less sensitive to coercion. Should private sector participation be necessary in the future it will therefore become more likely to be forced rather than voluntary. A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 14 15 June 2011 Exhibit 8: Payoff values per combined strategy in the multi-step game (1 of 2) Each column holds the payoff of the respective player. Each row corresponds to a combination of strategies. The new Nash equilibrium is highlighted in turquoise. Strategy ECB Banks IMF Germany France Greece Rating Agencies Dominated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -3 -3 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -2 -2 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 0 0 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 0 0 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -7 -7 -10 -10 -7 -7 -5 -5 0 0 -5 -5 0 0 -10 -10 -7 -7 -10 -10 -7 -7 -5 -5 0 0 -5 -5 0 0 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -3 -3 -2 -2 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -3 -3 -2 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 5 dominated by 5 7 dominated by 1 6 dominated by 1 7 dominated by 3 4 dominated by 13 7 dominated by 5 6 dominated by 5 7 dominated by 7 5 dominated by 13 7 dominated by 9 6 dominated by 9 7 dominated by 11 3 dominated by 29 7 dominated by 13 6 dominated by 13 7 dominated by 15 5 dominated by 21 7 dominated by 17 6 dominated by 17 7 dominated by 19 4 dominated by 29 7 dominated by 21 6 dominated by 21 7 dominated by 23 5 dominated by 29 7 dominated by 25 6 dominated by 25 7 dominated by 27 6 dominated by 31 7 dominated by 29 2 dominated by 63 7 dominated by 31 7 dominated by 34 5 dominated by 38 7 dominated by 36 6 dominated by 34 7 dominated by 38 4 dominated by 46 7 dominated by 40 6 dominated by 38 7 dominated by 42 5 dominated by 46 7 dominated by 44 6 dominated by 42 7 dominated by 46 3 dominated by 62 7 dominated by 48 6 dominated by 46 7 dominated by 50 5 dominated by 54 7 dominated by 52 6 dominated by 50 7 dominated by 54 4 dominated by 62 7 dominated by 56 6 dominated by 54 7 dominated by 58 5 dominated by 62 7 dominated by 60 6 dominated by 58 7 dominated by 62 6 dominated by 64 7 dominated by 64 1 dominated by 128 A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 15 15 June 2011 Exhibit 8: Payoff values per combined strategy in the multi-step game (2 of 2) Each column holds the payoff of the respective player. Each row corresponds to a combination of strategies. The new Nash equilibrium is highlighted in turquoise. Strategy 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 ECB 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 0 -5 Banks -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -3 -3 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -2 -2 IMF Germany France Greece Rating Agencies -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 0 0 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 0 0 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -7 -7 -10 -10 -7 -7 -5 -5 0 0 -5 -5 0 0 -10 -10 -7 -7 -10 -10 -7 -7 -5 -5 0 0 -5 -5 0 0 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -10 -10 -7 -10 -5 -5 0 -5 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -3 -3 -2 -2 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -10 -10 -3 -3 -2 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 0 -2 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 Dominated 5 dominated by 69 7 dominated by 65 6 dominated by 65 7 dominated by 67 4 dominated by 77 7 dominated by 69 6 dominated by 69 7 dominated by 71 5 dominated by 77 7 dominated by 73 6 dominated by 73 7 dominated by 75 3 dominated by 93 7 dominated by 77 6 dominated by 77 7 dominated by 79 5 dominated by 85 7 dominated by 81 6 dominated by 81 7 dominated by 83 4 dominated by 93 7 dominated by 85 6 dominated by 85 7 dominated by 87 5 dominated by 93 7 dominated by 89 6 dominated by 89 7 dominated by 91 6 dominated by 95 7 dominated by 93 2 dominated by 127 7 dominated by 95 7 dominated by 98 5 dominated by 102 7 dominated by 100 6 dominated by 98 7 dominated by 102 4 dominated by 110 7 dominated by 104 6 dominated by 102 7 dominated by 106 5 dominated by 110 7 dominated by 108 6 dominated by 106 7 dominated by 110 3 dominated by 126 7 dominated by 112 6 dominated by 110 7 dominated by 114 5 dominated by 118 7 dominated by 116 6 dominated by 114 7 dominated by 118 4 dominated by 126 7 dominated by 120 6 dominated by 118 7 dominated by 122 5 dominated by 126 7 dominated by 124 6 dominated by 122 7 dominated by 126 6 dominated by 128 7 dominated by 128 Source: Credit Suisse A Nash Equilibrium for Greece 16 Credit Strategy and Quantitative Research Eric Miller, Managing Director Global Head of Fixed Income and Economic Research +1 212 538 6480 William Porter, Managing Director Group Head +44 20 7888 1207 [email protected] Helen Haworth, CFA, Director Christian Schwarz, Vice President +44 20 7888 0757 [email protected] +44 20 7888 3161 [email protected] Chiraag Somaia, Associate Joachim Edery, Analyst +44 20 7888 2776 [email protected] +44 20 7888 7382 [email protected] Disclosure Appendix Analyst Certification The analysts identified in this report each certify, with respect to the companies or securities that the individual analyzes, that (1) the views expressed in this report accurately reflect his or her personal views about all of the subject companies and securities and (2) no part of his or her compensation was, is or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report. 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The market value of any structured security may be affected by changes in economic, financial and political factors (including, but not limited to, spot and forward interest and exchange rates), time to maturity, market conditions and volatility, and the credit quality of any issuer or reference issuer. Any investor interested in purchasing a structured product should conduct their own investigation and analysis of the product and consult with their own professional advisers as to the risks involved in making such a purchase. Some investments discussed in this report may have a high level of volatility. High volatility investments may experience sudden and large falls in their value causing losses when that investment is realised. Those losses may equal your original investment. Indeed, in the case of some investments the potential losses may exceed the amount of initial investment and, in such circumstances, you may be required to pay more money to support those losses. 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