Interest rate caps are widespread in consumer credit markets, yet there is limited evidence on its effects on market outcomes and welfare. Conceptually, the effects of interest rate caps are ambiguous and depend on a trade-off between consumer protection from banks' market power and reductions...

This paper introduces cashless stores and cashless consumers into a model of interchange fees. Under this modification, the interchange fee set by the card organization exceeds the optimal level. Furthermore, the gap between this fee and the optimal fee increases with the fraction of consumers...

This study examines the effect of regulatory independence of the central bank in shaping the impact of electoral cycles on bank lending behaviour in Africa. It employs the dynamic system Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) Two-Step estimator for a panel dataset of 54 African countries over the...

We study the impact of ambiguity on two alternative institutions of financial intermediation in an economy where consumers face uncertain liquidity needs. The ambiguity the consumers experience is modeled by the degree of confidence in their additive beliefs. We analyze the optimal liquidity...

In der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Literatur wird das ökonomische Potenzial von Immobilienverzehrprodukten vielseitig diskutiert. Obwohl diesen Produkten aus wohlfahrtstheoretischen Gesichtspunkten eine hohe Bedeutung beigemessen wird, zeigt die empirische Evidenz, dass die Nachfrage weit...

In der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Literatur wird das ökonomische Potenzial von Immobilienverzehrprodukten vielseitig diskutiert. Obwohl diesen Produkten aus wohlfahrts-theoretischen Gesichtspunkten eine hohe Bedeutung beigemessen wird, zeigt die empirische Evidenz, dass die Nachfrage weit...

This paper shows that bank competition has an intrinsically ambiguous effect on capital accumulation and economic growth. We further demonstrate that banking market structure can be responsible for the emergence of development traps in economies that would otherwise be characterized by unique...

We study the impact of ambiguity on two alternative institutions of financial intermediation in an economy where consumers face uncertain liquidity needs. The ambiguity the consumers experience is modeled by the degree of confidence in their additive beliefs. We analyze the optimal liquidity...

In der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Literatur wird das ökonomische Potenzial von Immobilienverzehrprodukten vielseitig diskutiert. Obwohl diesen Produkten aus wohlfahrts-theoretischen Gesichtspunkten eine hohe Bedeutung beigemessen wird, zeigt die empirische Evidenz, dass die Nachfrage weit...

Financial contagion and systemic risk measures are commonly derived from conditional quantiles by using imposed model assumptions such as a linear parametrization. In this paper, we provide model free measures for contagion and systemic risk which are independent of the specifcation of...