This paper uses panel data on the number of new firm registrations in 92 countries to study how the ease of registering a business and the magnitude of registration reforms affect new firm registrations. We find that the costs, days and procedures required for starting a business are important...

In 2009, the promise of a comprehensive federal cap and trade bill to address climate change fell apart. At least in part, this was due to the fears that exotic 'carbon' financial instruments might cause more financial crises. As California launches it economy wide carbon trading system, and...

We empirically analyze the determinants of regulatory costs associated with accounting, audit and tax rules in the European Union. Regulatory costs include transfer payments from losers to beneficiaries of such legislation. Hence, building upon a novel dataset, we estimate regulatory costs as...

The U.S. financial crisis of 2007-2008 has been a searing experience. The popping of a housing bubble exposed the subprime lending debacle, which in turn created a wider financial crisis. In its response to this crisis, the federal government has provided financial assistance to a number of...

Reforming regulation of the financial sector is currently among the most immediate concerns of domestic and international policymakers. Proposals for such reform are proliferating, and the official sector appears committed to adopting at least some meaningful reforms in the near-term. Broadly...

Many of the world's developed economies have introduced, or are planning to introduce, bank bail-in regimes. Both the planned EU resolution regime and the European Stability Mechanism Treaty involve the participation of bank creditors in bearing the costs of bank recapitalization via the bail-in...

In July 2002, FINRA began mandatory dissemination of price and volume information for corporate bond trades. This paper, using recently released data, measures transparency's effect on trading activity and costs for the entire corporate bond market. Even though trading costs decrease...

Following the 2008 financial crisis, countercyclical regulation emerged as one of the most promising breakthroughs in years to halting destructive cycles of booms and busts. This new approach to systemic risk posits that financial regulation should clamp down during economic expansions and ease...

In this study, using the World Bank's Bank Regulation and Supervision Survey (BRSS) data, we draw insights about the bank regulatory/supervisory styles, illustrate the differences in regulation/supervision among crisis, non-crisis and BRICS countries, and highlight the ways in which bank...

The paper analyses the divergent outcomes of post-crisis derivative regulation in Europe. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, most regulatory issues only represent incremental changes of existing practices and incentives, tweaking rather than reforming the financial system and, mostly,...