This paper estimates the relation between bank profitability and economic downturns using a theoretical model that takes into account the bank's lending history as well as amortization and losses on outstanding loans. We focus on total bank profits and its components: net interest income, other...

Using a New-Keynesian framework, we investigate how far the inflationary processes in member states of EMU cause regional price levels to converge. We fail to produce hard evidence of the present existence of such an adjustment mechanism, not-withstanding that inflation in some countries tends...

We study price level convergence within the US and EMU, using panel estimates of regional Phillips curves of the hybrid New-Keynesian type. The estimated half lives of deviations from trend PPP are around three years for US regions and two years for euro area countries. The start of EMU had no...

We examine which variables are robust in explaining cross-country differences in the real impact of systemic banking crises. Based on a meta-analysis, we identify 21 variables frequently used as determinants of the severity of crises. Employing nine proxies for crisis severity, we find that...

This paper analyses investment strategies of three types of institutional investors pension funds, life insurers and non-life insurers over the period 1999-2005. We use balance sheet and cash flow data, including purchases and sales of equity, fixed income and real estate. We trace asset...

We investigate the determinants of Dutch households' preferences for income redistribution, using survey data. Our results show that support for redistributive policies is related to self-interest, exposure to misfortune and risk-aversion. In addition, people who believe that prosperity is...

This paper examines the financial behaviour of 77 Dutch pension funds during 2002-2005. Using microdata, we investigate differences across various types of funds. Both the asset mix and the degree of home bias are related to the size of pension funds: large institutions invest more in equity and...

We investigate the capital structure of 350 Dutch insurers during the period 1995-2005. Our main findings are: (1) a small company size, a mutual organisation, high profitability, large equity investments, and being a fire insurer, all contribute to higher solvency margins; (2) minimum solvency...

Using area-wide data, we perform a VAR analysis to simulate the responses of inflation and real output following monetary shocks in the EMU. We find that short-term interest rate shocks have a significant impact on real activity, but hardly on prices. M3 shows a perverse short-term response to a...

In this paper the relationship between stock prices and house prices is analysed for six countries over the years 1976-2001. We find that both asset prices show a positive long-term relationship, which can partly be explained by common macro-economic factors such as credit, consumption and...