This paper presents a synopsis of recent NBER studies of the history of corporate governance in Canada, China, France …, Germany, Japan, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together, the studies …

. The analysis includes a set of multivariate time series models that relate measures of banking and equity market activity …

This paper examines the relationship between the structure of banking markets and economic growth using a new dataset … on manufacturing industry-level growth rates and banking market concentration for U.S. states during 1899-1929--a period … when the manufacturing sector was expanding rapidly and restrictive branching laws segmented the U.S. banking system …

The "Federalist financial revolution" may have jump-started the U.S. economy into modern growth, but the Free Banking … System (1837-1862) did not play a direct role in sustaining it. Despite lowering entry barriers and extending banking into …

Theoretically, wealthier people should buy less insurance, and should self-insure through saving instead, as insurance … wealthier have better life and property insurance coverage. Wealth-related differences in background risk, legal risk, liquidity … constraints, financial literacy, and pricing explain only a small fraction of the positive wealth-insurance correlation. This …

Insurers are the largest institutional investors of corporate bonds. However, a standard theory of insurance markets …

This paper examines the role that insurance has played in dealing with terrorism before and after September 11, 2001 …, by focusing on the distinctive challenges associated with terrorism as a catastrophic risk. The Terrorism Risk Insurance … Act of 2002 (TRIA) was passed by the U.S. Congress in November 2002, establishing a national terrorism insurance program …