Empirical research about structure, conduct and performance in banking markets has developed mostly independently from the microeconomic theory of banking. The present paper reviews the literature by focusing on the links between theoretical and empirical research. It considers basic conditions,...

Johann Heinrich von Thünen förderte die Kreditvermittlung, indem er zum Sparen auf seinem Gut anregte und eine Theorie über die Einführung eines Kreditvereins in Mecklenburg entwickelte. Im Jahr 1817 beschrieb er, daß ein Finanzintermediär nur dann vorteilhaft ist, wenn der dadurch...

Usury is a frequent occurrence in consumer credit markets and particularly affects low-income households. Although the term usury conjures images of a greedy individual consciously acting to exploit the weak bargaining position of another by deceitful and even fraudulent means, we consider it as...

Usury is a frequent occurrence in consumer credit markets and particularly affects low-income households. Systemic usury exploits poverty by shifting usury into additional products and leveraging usury gains by stringing together individual loan agreements. This paper reviews the economic...

Germany's bank-based financial system provides a high level of financial inclusion, measured by bank outreach and use of financial services. However, the most vulnerable individuals and small enterprises in Germany tend to be excluded or credit constrained. The quality of financial inclusion is...

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC: 2008–2009) and the Euro Sovereign Crisis (ESC: 2010–2012) seem a process of creative destruction for the European Union (EU). The huge damage provoked by the GFC and ESC was, in fact, followed by important institutional building steps as the Banking Union...

Bisherige Studien haben den digitalen Zugang zu Finanzdienstleistungen untersucht und gut versorgte sowie unterversorgte Regionen in Deutschland identifiziert. Das Vorhandensein eines hinreichend guten digitalen Zugangs sagt aber nichts darüber aus, ob dieser auch genutzt wird, um damit...

Die Strukturen der Unternehmensfinanzierung und -kontrolle haben sich weltweit grundlegend verändert, gekennzeichnet durch neue Kapitalmarktinstrumente, verstärktes Auftreten von Nichtbank-Finanzintermediären sowie zunehmende Arbeitsteilung zwischen den Marktteilnehmern. Der vorliegende...

The present paper investigates the number of bank relationships of small and medium-sized enterprises in Switzerland using survey data from 1996 and 2002. We differentiate between overall bank relationships and lending relationships and disaggregate the loan market with respect to firm sizes,...

An overview of previous evidence about relationship banking to SMEs shows that multiple banking relationships prevail even at small firms, but there is hardly evidence on the number of banking relationships held by micro firms. To close this gap, we use data from a survey conducted among...