This paper studies loan activity in a context where banks must follow Basel Accord-type rules and acquire financing from households. Loan activity typically decreases when entrepreneurs’ investment returns decline, and we study which type of policy could revigorate an economy in a trough. We...

This paper seeks to understand the interplay between banks, bank regulation, sovereign default risk and central bank guarantees in a monetary union. I assume that banks can use sovereign bonds for repurchase agreements with a common central bank, and that their sovereign partially backs up any...

We develop a simple model of banking regulation with two policy instruments: minimum capital requirements and supervision of domestic banks. The regulator faces a trade-off: high capital requirements cause a drop in the banks’ profitability, while strict supervision reduces the scope of...

This paper models the strategic interaction between a rating agency, a bank and a bank regulator who lacks information about bank asset risk. The regulator can either (1) make bank capital requirements contingent on credit ratings; or (2) set rating-independent capital requirements. Truthful...

In this paper we analyze how firms’ knowledge absorption capacity – given the knowledge environment – affects the development, adoption and introduction of new export products among Swedish manufacturing firms. Our model formulation builds on theoretical arguments which imply that firms...

My purpose in this paper is to analyze how offshoring of intermediate goods affects different occupational groups in Swedish manufacturing firms using data for the period 2001-2008. Advances in ICT, along with improved infrastructure and lower cost of transportation have boosted the contracting...

This paper studies the corporate governance structure among Swedish banks. Who controls the Swedish banks and what characteristics does the Swedish banking sector have? Issues related to corporate governance such as ownership structure, board of directors and control-enhancing mechanisms will be...

This paper investigates to what extent unregulated local monopolies attempt not to evoke the introduction of a formal price regulation by conforming to customers’ and authorities’ expectations. It is argued that utilities can meet expectations by setting prices that imitate neighbours’...