We investigate the relationship between real estate markets and bank distress among German universal and specialized mortgage banks between 1995 and 2004. Higher house prices increase the value of collateral, which reduces the probability of bank distress (PDs). But higher prices at given rents...

This paper analyzes interest margin determinants in the Russian banking sector with a particular emphasis on the bank ownership structure. Using a unique bank-level data covering Russia's entire banking sector for the 1999-2007 period, we find that the impact of a number of commonly used...

We address the issue of foreign exchange risk and its macroeconomic determinants in several new EU members. The joint distribution of excess returns in the foreign exchange market and the observable macroeconomic factors is modeled using the stochastic discount factor (SDF) approach and a...

We investigate the relationship between real estate markets and bank distress amongGerman universal and specialized mortgage banks between 1995 and 2004. Higherhouse prices increase the value of collateral, which reduces the probability of bankdistress (PDs). But higher prices at given rents may...

Early warning systems (EWS) are widely used for assessing countries' vulnerability to fiscal distress. Most EWS employ a specific set of only fiscal leading indicators predetermined by the researchers, which casts doubt on their robustness. We revisit this issue by using the Extreme Bound...

The development over time of market integration between Chinese provinces is analyzed by estimating threshold vector error correction models for rolling windows during 1998-2003. Transaction costs clearly decrease during this period characterized by liberalization of external trade and domestic...

This paper analyzes regional labor mobility in Finland using two complementary empirical approaches: a VAR proposed by Blanchard and Katz (1992) and a gravity model. The results point to a relatively limited regional labor mobility in Finland compared to the U.S. and to EU peers. The limited...