Consumers have increasing demands for product standards. This has important implications for development. This paper develops a firmal theory of the process of the introduction of high product standards in developing countries. The model endogenizes the introduction of high standards. Initial...

The chapter reconceptualizes financial innovation. In this context, it discusses the risks of financial innovation and contemporary regulatory reforms addressing those risks. It provides a critique of contemporary reforms. Finally, it stresses the need for a new framework to regulate financial...

This study was prepared by Andreas Kuhlmann, while he was working with the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. It was completed in September 2006 and was accepted as a Ph.D. thesis by the Economics Department of the University of Munich. The subject of this study is the analysis of network...

The paper investigates by means of cointegration analysis whether the recently observed low levels of private saving and the current account balance in the United States are worrisome in the sense that they cannot be sufficiently explained by determinants which performed well in the past. Stock...

There is no consensus about the causes of the reduction in business cycle volatility seen in many major economies over the last decade. Using stylised models of the economies of the US, Euro area, UK and Japan, we argue that economic stability has been fostered by improved monetary policy and by...