In the post-WWII (since the 1950s), there have been over 400 banking, currency, and sovereign debt crises, which translates to about 10 crises per annum; furthermore, the combined cost of the last five crises since the late 1990s is in excess of $30 trillion, but when the cost of the COVID-19...

Metaphorically speaking, prior to the man-created dollar virus leaked from the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference (i.e. the virology lab), financial crises were termed as a panic and the Panic of 1907 was the last financial crisis termed this way. The roaring 1920s (equity and housing bubbles in the...

During the financial crisis, life insurers sold long-term policies at deep discounts relative to actuarial value. The average markup was as low as -19 percent for annuities and -57 percent for life insurance. This extraordinary pricing behavior was due to financial and product market frictions,...

In response to the recent global financial crisis, the regulatory authorities in many countries have imposed stringent capital requirements in the form of the BASEL III Accord to ensure financial stability. On the other hand, bankers have criticized new regulation on the ground that it would...