A growing number of studies on the US subprime market indicate that, due to asymmetric information, credit risk transfer activities have perverse effects on banks' lending standards. We investigate a large part of the market for securitized assets (“prime mortgages”) in Italy, a country with...

International Insurance Markets: Between Global Dynamics and Local Contingencies—An Introduction -- The United States Insurance Market: Characteristics and Trends -- The Japanese Insurance Market and Companies: Recent Trends -- The UK Insurance Industry—Structure and Performance -- The...