The house price and lending boom of the 2000s is widely considered to be the main cause of the financial crisis that began in 2007. However, looking to the past, we find a similar boom in the late 1980s which did not lead directly to a global systemic banking crisis – there were...

The UK is commonly viewed as having a ‘market oriented’ financial system, in contrast to other European countries which are seen as ‘bank dominated’. In the light of this supposition, we investigate sectoral balance sheet data for evidence of differences in financial...

As background for this special issue of the Review, this article provides an overview of recent developments in financial structure in the major industrial countries using national flow of funds balance sheet data. We focus in particular on changes in the size and composition of the balance...

The availability of bank finance to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is important to allow SMEs to start up and finance investment for growth. To assess changes in such availability over 2001–12, we used data from a series of surveys that provide detailed information on the...

In nominal terms, the fall in global share prices since 1999/2000 bears a close resemblance to that experienced worldwide in the years following 1972/3. This article seeks to compare the two periods of market weakness in the G-7 countries in terms not only of share prices but also focusing on...

One of the features of the sub-prime crisis, that began in August 2007, was its unexpected nature. It came as a surprise not only to most financial market participants but also in some degree to the policy community. In this context, we seek to assess whether early warning systems based on the...

The recent Sub-Prime crisis has prompted a close focus on the causes of financial instability as well as the issue of whether it can be prevented. There is a growing realisation that the Sub-Prime crisis, although having some important unique features, also had a number of generic aspects in...

The financial crisis that started in August 2008 has reached a climax in the autumn of 2008 with a wave of bank nationalisations across North America and Europe. Although banking crises are not uncommon, this is the largest since 1929—33. This paper discusses the build-up to the crisis,...

There is only a sparse literature on the determination of real exchange rate volatility, and little attention has been given to the possible impact of EMU on volatility of real exchange rates of EU countries. A number of papers suggest a negative impact of exchange rate volatility on investment...