"How was life in 1820, and how has it improved since then? What are the long-term trends in global well-being? Views on social progress since the Industrial Revolution are largely based on historical national accounting in the tradition of Kuznets and Maddison. But trends in real GDP per capita...

Introduction -- The costs and benefits of protecting creditor rights: theory and evidence / Atilano Jorge Padilla and Alejandro Requejo -- Information sharing in credit markets: theory and evidence / Tullio Jappelli and Marco Pagano -- The political economy of debt moratoria, bailouts and...