This paper studies the conditions that affected market liquidity during the recent financial crisis, and how this setting resulted in a systemic breakdown in the economy. We also review the Federal Reserves actions and provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of the Federal Reserves unconventional monetary policy in providing market liquidity during the crisis. We use a dataset consisting of an aggregate market liquidity measure and individual program data on the Federal Reserves activity to analyze the market impact of the Federal Reserves balance sheet programs. In baseline regressions we find no statistically significant evidence that the Federal Reserves unconventional policies had an impact on market liquidity. However, in asymm...