At least in the past, banking in continental Europe has been characterised by a number of features that are quite specific to the region. They include the following: (1) banks play a strong role in their respective financial systems; (2) universal banking is prevalent; (3) not strictly...

This article looks at the role of market complementarities in developing new carbon markets. I argue that markets are composed of social as well as economic networks. The reliance of these networks on social connectivity and proximity makes the development of new markets particularly suited to...

Better developed legal and political institutions result in greater availability of reliable firm-specific information. When stock prices reflect more firm-specific information there will be less stock price synchronicity. This paper traces the experience of China, an economy undergoing dramatic...

We find that gold has not performed particularly well compared to other assets. However, there is a place for gold-related assets in institutional portfolios separate from commodities and energy equities. The role for gold lies in its diversification and macroeconomic hedging benefits.We examine...

This paper sheds light on the financial crisis of 2008–2010 in eleven emerging Eastern European economies (EE11): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan and Ukraine. The aim is twofold. In the first place it seeks to find...

It is often stated that globalization makes a "smaller" world by institutional conver-gence. Economic orders become alike across the world. This article addresses institutional change triggered by the global financial crisis of 2008/2009 and challenges this general conviction of worldwide...