Banking and currency crises have done severe economic damage in many countries in recent years. This article examines the causes and characteristics of these crises and the public policies intended to prevent them or mitigate their adverse consequences.

In 1991, the U.S. adopted fundamental deposit insurance reform in the FDIC Improvement Act. This article reveals why such reform was necessary in light of the severe banking crisis of the 1980s and analyzes its success to date.

“Banks” are regulated by the government. However, because the generic term bank applies to a number of different types of financial institutions that provide different services, different types of regulation are required. This issue has attracted much attention in recent years as...

This article examines some implications of the failure of three large Japanese banks in 1997 and 1998. The authors examine the response in the equity returns of surviving Japanese banks to the three failure announcements. In addition, they provide evidence on the clients of failed and surviving...