In this paper we describe systemic financial risk as a pollution issue. Free riding leads to excess risk production. This problem may be solved, at least partially, either with financial regulation or taxation. From a normative viewpoint taxation is superior in many respects. However, reality...

Sanctions induce political instability. We present a model where sanctioned regimes may decide to repudiate their public debts in order to keep internal support. To be effective, this strategy requires the share of foreign debt to be larger than the minimum quota of population which is needed...

In our lectures we tried to shed light on the basic role of both monetary policy and financial regulation as drivers of the financial instability which characterized the years 2008-2009. We illustrated how a relatively limited default event – the subprime loan crisis in the United States –...

In these notes we address the question of Central Bank Independence (hereafter CBI). We use a principal-agent model of the institutional regime. Citizens are the principals who demand CBI and the incumbent government is the agent which establishes the central bank regime, supplying it

Which is the current state of the insurance supervision architectures? The recent financial crisis has forcefully demonstrated that the financial services markets are deeply integrated, requiring an integrated supervisory approach. How is insurance supervision integrated into the overall...

We empirically investigate whether central bank independence (CBI) and the monetary policy setting can jointly influence the likelihood that policymakers assign banking supervision to central banks. We find that, conditional on the government being a benevolent one, higher central bank...

With the Great Crisis of 2008-2009 we have witnessed a relevant episode of macroeconomic vulnerability affecting many countries. To what extent such vulnerability has depended upon the design of light touch (LT) banking regulation? And to what extent other institutional factors, different from...

The activity of Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) can lead to Excessive Volatility Risk (EVR), adversely affecting issuances of debt by sovereign governments. By EVR, we mean the risk of effects on bond yields, caused by ratings which are independent from the supply of new information (information...

Financial regulation and supervision must change. Everybody agrees about that. But which is the state of the art? Both in the EU and the US reform proposals have been outlined. In order to be effective, such proposals should heed the lessons of the financial crisis, especially when it comes to...

By the early ‘2000 an increasing numbers of countries had adopted a well defined central bank framework, which is characterized by two intertwined features: the authority becomes specialized in achieving the monetary policy goals, and consequently its traditional responsibilities in pursuing...