In card payment systems, no-surcharge rules prohibit merchants from charging consumers extra for card payments. However, Dutch retailers are allowed to surcharge consumers for their debit card use. This allows an empirical analysis of the impact of surcharging on the demand for debit card...

This paper provides a brief overview of the main issues at stake related to institutional structure and monetary transmission in Europe. We argue that differences in institutional arrangements, both economic and legal, are potential causes of differences in monetary transmission mechanisms among...

We analyse the effect of failing reinsurance cover on the stability of Dutch insurers. As insurers often reinsure themselves with other (re)insurers, losses could spread contagiously through the sector. Using a unique and confidential data set on reinsurance exposures, we perform a scenario...

Survey results show that Dutch consumers perceive paying in cash as an inexpensive way to pay, while they regard electronic payment cards as relatively expensive. This finding partly explains the low usage of electronic payment cards in point-of-sale (POS) payments. The survey also highlights...

This paper presents an information variable for financial stability consisting of a composite index and its related critical boundaries. It is an extension of a Financial Conditions Index with information on financial institutions. The indicator is bounded, on one side, by the instability...

The volatility of unanticipated output growth in income per capita is detrimental to long-run development, controlling for initial income per capita, population growth, human capital, investment, openness and natural resource dependence. This effect is significant and robust over a wide range of...

We investigate interlinkages and contagion risks in the Dutch interbank market. Based on severaldata sources, including the answers of banks to a questionnaire, we estimate the exposures in the interbank market at bank level. Next, we perform a scenario analysis to measure contagion risks. We...

This paper discusses various theoretic concepts which play a role in assessing the public benefits of Target, the large value RTGS payment network operated by the Eurosystem. These concepts touch upon natural monopoly, network externalities, competition and contestability, as well as economies...

The continental European financial system distinghuishes itself from its American counterpart by the dominance of banks in the financing of nonfinancial companies. Only a fraction of the external capital need of the private sector is fulfilled directly, on the public capital market. Non-bank...

Countries differ as to financial structure. That goes also for countries taking part in the Economic and Monetary Union, EMU. As a result, the ECB's monetary policy does not necessarily affect economic activity and price developments in individual euro area countries to the same extent. The...