This article analyses the way in which different socio-political configurations have had a significant effect on the economic development of Argentina, Brasil and Mexico. The characteristics of the socio-political coalitions in the three countries are presented, and their imprints on industrial...

Using a unique data set on German banks' sector specific loan exposures to the real economy and the corresponding write-offs and write-downs, we examine the impact of loan portfolio sector concentration on credit risk. By controlling for common risk factors, we separate the bank-specific...

Banks face a tradeoff between diversifying and focusing their loan portfolio. In this paper we carry out an empirical study for the German market to shed light on the question whether or not the benefits of risk sharing outweigh those of specialization. We use data from the Bundesbank's...