Central bank jawboning, not formal rules, halted the 1987 panic

Evidence

Senior officials from the Federal Reserve telephoned top bankers and stockbrokers, pressuring them to keep extending credit and not to hold back from settling transactions with firms that might be about to fail. Those to whom they spoke generally did what was asked of them. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 29

Categorization

• QUESTION: How does informal Fed pressure square with the book’s performativity thesis framing — is the Fed itself ‘performing’ a market-saving script?