In East Germany the immediate privatization of banks and the restructuring of the financial base of former state owned companies by the "Treuhand" prevented the transformation economies usual soft budget constraints risk. Therefore the adjustment of savings within Germany was to be due,...

In Germany banks play a major role in finance. In tranquil times the German banking sector was known as stable but low performing in terms of return on equity. Nevertheless, since years huge problems of the state-owned "Landesbanken" have been known. Meanwhile it became clear that single banks...

Obwohl das letzte Jahrhundert im Allgemeinen durch eine starke Ausweitung der internationalen Kapitalverflechtung gekennzeichnet war, blieb Japan bis in die 90er Jahre hinein eine relativ geschlossene Volkswirtschaft. Erst mit dem Platzen der so genannten "Bubble" wurde die Öffnung der...

Despite the fact that the last century was characterized by an impressive increase of cross-border capital flows, Japan remained a relatively closed economy up to the late 90s. Only when the "bubble" burst was the impetus given for more rapid opening up of the economy and the closely related...