Natural disasters are negative shocks that can severely disrupt the communities in which they occur. Disasters like hurricanes, tornados, floods, wildfires, and earthquakes, moreover, can cause severe property damage, including damages to homes, businesses, and automobiles. An important issue...

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (known as the GATS) is an important new element in the international framework that affects the regulation of every WTO Member's financial sector. However, except for a limited number of country-specific case studies, no attempt has been made to compare...

Sweep deposits from brokerage firms to banks vary inversely with the stock market. When the stock market declines, retail investors reduce risk and sell stocks, with the proceeds typically swept out of brokerage firms and into banks. The relation is asymmetric as sweep deposits do not appear to...

This paper reassesses what works in banking regulation based on the new World Bank survey (Survey IV) of bank regulation and supervision around world. The paper briefly presents new and official survey information on bank regulations in more than 125 countries, makes comparisons with earlier...

Payday lenders are not everyone's favorite firms. Many individuals consider the typical 300 to 400 percent interest rate that they charge typically on a $300 two-week loan outrageously high. Many assert that payday lenders are engaging in predatory lending because relatively low-income and...

The "Volcker Rule" prevents banks from engaging in proprietary trading. However, trading losses are not unique to the banking industry. In fact, the majority of large trading losses of the past 20 years occurred at non-banks who will remain untouched by the Volcker Rule. Regulating banks while...