A key function of capital regulation is to mitigate the potential for systemic financial risk by maintaining public confidence in the ability of regulated market participants to honor their financial obligations in times of market stress. While it is well known that the portfolios of banks and...

Differences in the portfolios of depositories and insurance and reinsurance firms are important for the design of efficient capital regulations. Using a simple contingent claims model which focuses on credit risk and in which intermediaries issue liabilities under conditions of moral hazard, we...

This paper is one of four in this Working Paper series, focusing on financial liberalisation, along with those by Miller and Weller, Driscoll, and Blundell-Wignall and Browne. It examines the historical volatilities of stock, bond and foreign currency markets over alternative periods differing...