In an Islamic economy, the financial sector functions to support the real sector. There are no interest rate based debt instruments. Financial assets are based on risk and return sharing and are contingent claims. Real as well as monetary forces determine the rate of return. As in traditional...

The main characteristics of an Islamic financial system are described relying on recent writings on the subject and on the actual practice of Islamic banking. A theoretical model of an Islamic economic system is developed by generalizing the standard IS-LM model in order to study the effects of...

The paper analyses Islamic finance from the central bank and supervisory authority's perspective, focusing on the European and Italian context. It depicts a rapidly expanding sector, with recent annual growth rates of between 10 and 15 percent and a geographical presence that now reaches several...

The financial system -- An overview of financial markets and institutions -- The federal reserve and its powers -- The fed and interest rates -- Bond prices and interest rate risk -- The structure of interest rates -- Financial markets -- Money markets -- Bond markets -- Mortgage markets --...

A timely guide to the complex financial markets and banking secrecy of SwitzerlandSince 1934, when Switzerland's federal bank secrecy law was passed, the line between myth and reality with regard to Swiss banking has been blurred. But over the past decade, there have been dramatic changes in the...

"The Chinese economy is now easily one of the most important and closely scrutinized economies in the world. Relatively minuscule changes in predictions of how the Chinese economy will perform can drive up or down stocks and the price of oil and other commodities. At the heart of how the Chinese...