The Japanese version of the Big Bang announced in November 1996 was a major plan to drastically reform the financial and capital markets in Japan through significant revisions to laws such as the Securities and Exchange Law. The Japanese Big Bang was planned because of mounting worries about the...

The large weight of public financial institutions is often identified as one of the characteristics of the Japanese financial system. It is believed that reform of the private financial sector is not enough to revitalize the Japanese financial system, but reform of the public financial sector is...

This paper discusses the financial landscape of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a region engaged in building an economic community (a “single market and production baseâ€) by 2015. In particular, it reviews where ASEAN’s financial markets and...

This paper discusses the financial landscape of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a region engaged in building an economic community (a “single market and production baseâ€) by 2015. In particular, it reviews where ASEAN’s financial markets and...

This paper discusses the financial landscape of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a region engaged in building an economic community (a “single market and production baseâ€) by 2015. In particular, it reviews where ASEAN’s financial markets and...

This study aims at empirical investigation of the x-efficiency, scale economies, and technological progress of commercial banks operating in Pakistan using balance panel data for 29 banks. As banking sector efficiency is considered as a precondition for macroeconomic stability, monetary policy...

Mutual funds are the most popular vehicle of investing in the stock market and their performance evaluation is a topic dear to both investors and academics. Surprisingly, mutual funds have not played a very important role in the Pakistani stock market and perhaps consequently almost nothing has...

The policy measures taken to date in the Asia-Pacific region are helping to cushion the blow of the global recession. Monetary and fiscal policy stimulus has been strong and there has been considerable attention given to strengthening the financial system. Questions, however, remain about how...

In the turmoil of 20072009, troubles in a relatively small corner of the US mortgage market escalated into a crisis of global proportions. An amplification mechanism were the huge valuation losses on credit instruments, which dwarfed actual losses from default. We argue that these valuation...