We provide a simple theoretical foundation, based on the theory of Markov chains, for the objective empirical procedure for journal ranking devised by Liebowitz and Palmer.An elementary characterization is derived that substantially clarifies the meaning, scope and underlying intuition of the...

This paper investigates the relation between risk and the degree of financial intermediation in a model with moral hazard. Entrepreneurs can simultaneously get credit from two type of competing institutions:"financial intermediairies" and "local lenders". The former are competitive firms issuing...