The euro was expected to become a substitute for the U.S. dollar as an international currency. However, compromises made during its creation make it a less than perfect substitute in the medium term. Among these compromises was the application of macro convergence and micro diversity in...

Paul Krugman has argued that Japan is in a liquidity trap and that it can recover only if the central bank there follows a policy of "credible inflation." This paper argues that Krugman's proposal, which is similar to what Fisher proposed during the depression, is based on a different...

The financial system is a private-public partnership coming from government ceding the right to produce means of payment with the related permission on leveraged lending services, against the acceptance of rules designed to ensure stability for both individual institutions and the financial...

This Report provides an introduction to the seven country studies on the implementation of the European Directives on Banking and Finance in the period from the introduction of the Single European Act to the 2007/8 Global financial crisis and the additional national measures that have been taken...

The German 'Universal Bank' Form has frequently suggested as a model for the reform of U.S. Banking system because it does not restrict banks by means of market segmentation of their activities. This paper looks at the historical evolution of financial institutions in Germany and its modern...

This paper investigates the role of financial stucture on he financial fragility of the economy. It argues that while strucures is indipendent of the degree of what Misky calls financial fragility, it will have an impact on the rate of contagion by which financial fragility produces general...