Historically, periods of high indebtedness have been associated with a rising incidence of default or restructuring of public and private debts. A subtle type of debt restructuring takes the form of "financial repression." Financial repression includes directed lending to government by captive...

Is the 2007-2008 U.S. sub-prime mortgage financial crisis truly a new and different phenomena? Our examination of the longer historical record finds stunning qualitative and quantitative parallels to 18 earlier post-war banking crises in industrialized countries. Specifically, the run-up in U.S....

In the transition to sustainable economic structures the European Union assumes a leading role with its climate and energy package which sets ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets by 2020. Among EU Member States, Poland with its heavy energy system reliance on coal is particularly...