The financial crisis has affected the real economy in stages yet nevertheless at an unexpected rate and with all regions being affected simultaneously. It advanced almost independently of the regions' exposure to the actual initial causes, among them the subprime crisis, innovative financial...

According to theory, market concentration affects the likelihood of a financial crisis in different ways. The “concentration-stability” and the “concentrationfragility” hypotheses suggest opposing effects operating through specific channels. Using data of 160 countries for the period...