We propose a parsimonious model with adverse selection where delinquency, renegotiation, and bankruptcy all occur in equilibrium as a result of a simple screening mechanism. A borrower has private information about her cost of bankruptcy, and a lender may use random contracts to screen different...

Default rates on instalment loans vary with type of the good purchased. Using an Italian dataset of instalment loans between 1995-1999, we first show that the variation persists even after controlling for contract and individual-specific characteristics, and for the potential selection bias due...

The intense innovational activity typical of the financial sector in the last 30 years requires households to have increasingly comprehensive and complex financial knowledge. The main objective of our study, therefore, was to assess and evaluate risk management activity, which is an integral...

The article analyses key issues which have an impact on the development of insurance culture. Trends in insurance regulation and supervision at the European level are identified and the Bulgarian context is discussed during 2007-2013, outlining the main market dynamics indicators. Survey results...

Using unique data on Canadian households, we assess the impact of financial advisors on their clients' portfolios. We find that advisors induce their clients to take more risk, thereby raising expected returns. On the other hand, we find limited evidence of customization: advisors direct clients...

We study how consumers allocate debt across credit cards they already hold using new data on credit card activity for a representative sample of consumers with two homogeneous cards in Mexico. We find that relative prices are a very weak predictor of the allocation of debt, purchases, and...

The recent financial crisis has led many to question how well businesses deliver consumer financial services and how well regulatory institutions address problems in consumer financial markets. In response, the Obama administration proposed a new agency to oversee consumer financial services,...

This paper studies obfuscation decisions by firms in retail financial markets theoretically and experimentally. We show that more prominent firms are more likely to obfuscate. While prominent firms always choose maximum obfuscation, the obfuscation by less prominent firms depends on the degree...

A considerable part of the euro banknotes issued since 2002 is in circulation in Central, Eastern and Southeastern European (CESEE) countries. This can be attributed to the fact that numerous economic agents resorted to currency substitution in a parallel safe haven currency during the crisis...

The purpose of this paper is threefold. First is to comment upon the nature of financialisation. Second is to frame how this leads financialisation to be understood whether consciously or otherwise. And, third, is to draw out implications for surveying households as their experiences and...