Initiated by the seminal work of Diamond/Dybvig (1983) and Diamond (1984), advances in the theory of financial intermediation have sharpened our understanding of the theoretical foundations of banks as special financial institutions. What makes them "unique" is the combination of accepting...

The paper presents an empirical analysis of the alledged transformation of the financial systems in the three major European economies, France, Germany and the UK. Based on a unified data set developed on the basis of national accounts statistics, and employing a new and consistent method of...

This paper analyses derives market-wide price and return series for housing investment during a 13-year period, and it also provides estimates of the individual-specific, idiosyncratic, variation in housing returns.

Rating agencies state that they take a rating action only when it is unlikely to bereversed shortly afterwards. Based on a formal representation of the rating process, Ishow that such a policy provides a good explanation for the empirical evidence: Ratingchanges occur relatively seldom, exhibit...

Since the beginning of the 1990s, it has been widely expected that the implementation of the European Single Market would lead to a rapid convergence of Europe’s financial systems. In the present paper we will show that at least in the period prior to the introduction of the common currency...

This paper shows that the stock price of the rating agency Moody’s reacts negatively to ratingactions that are perceived to indicate low rating quality. The reaction is economicallysignificant. The cumulative effect corresponds to a 20% loss in market capitalization. Thissuggests that market...

Rating agencies state that they take a rating action only when it is unlikely to bereversed shortly afterwards. Using a formal representation of the rating process, I showthat such a policy provides a good explanation for the empirical evidence: ratingchanges relatively seldom occur, they...

This paper examines the question to what extent premia for macroeconomic risks inbanking are sufficient to avoid banking crises. We investigate a competitive bankingsystem embedded in an overlapping-generations model subject to repeatedmacroeconomic shocks. We show that even if banks fully...

Survey data from Bulgaria show that people who had experienced a loss during a banking crisisare significantly more likely to expect a new crisis. This result holds despite 12 years betweenthe earlier crisis and the survey, and the dramatically improved performance of the financialsector and the...

This paper provides an overview of the complex conceptual and practical challenges thatemerging market economies face as they attempt to reform their frameworks for financialregulation. These economies are striving to balance the quest for financial stability with theimperatives of financial...