Financial Regulations and Procyclicality

This paper is an attempt to understand whether or not it is relevant to talk about procyclicality in the financial markets and how it may or may not be regulated. The paper focus on the procyclicality aspect of financial regulations, including in particular those pertaining to credit, banks and insurance companies, and financial markets. The reader will find various examples of regulations and practices that could be financially procyclical, i.e. lead to more rapid increases in asset prices in periods of growth, and to faster decreases during downturns, or even lie at the origin of cycles.