A salient feature of the recent U.S. recession is that output and employment have declined more in regions (states, counties) where household leverage had increased more during the credit boom. This pattern is difficult to explain with standard models of financing frictions. We propose a theory...

This research analyzes the relevance of pricing models to the behaviour of banking service customers, in particular, how bank pricing models influence the acquisition and retention of retail customers.The survey is based on a dataset of 90,000 bank current account holders at an Italian...

Central banks are at the epicenter of the current crisis. Accused of starting the crisis or, conversely, praised for having worked to overcome it, central banks need to draw conclusions stemming from the global crisis and to undertake necessary reforms. At present, when the crisis appears to be...

In the midst of the US Civil War, in 1863, the Northern states of the federal Union established the National Banking System. It contributed to financing the war effort and to the circulation of banknotes. Following the civil war, this system was retained and extended across the reunified...

This paper investigates the transmission mechanism of mortgage premium to characterize the relationship between the housing market and the business cycle for the U.S. economy. The model matches the main features of the U.S. housing market and business cycles well. The mortgage premium is crucial...

This paper develops a micro-founded general equilibrium model of the financial system composed of ultimate borrowers, ultimate lenders and financial intermediaries. The model is used to investigate the impact of uncertainty about the likelihood of governmental bailouts on leverage, interest...

This paper analyzes the causes and implications of recent financial crises. Financial crises in general lead to changes in both theory and practice of economics. The paper takes an historical overview. The global consensus of economic theory during the 20th century is discussed. The paper...

L’objet de cet article est de présenter les principales conclusions du panel, organisé lors des VIIIe « Journées » de la Fondation Banque de France pour la recherche en économie monétaire, bancaire et financière le 21 juin 2010, sur le thème des stratégies de politique monétaire...

In this paper, we review the macroeconomic literature on financial frictions and banking in a dynamic general equilibrium framework. Our work focuses first on the pioneer articles that have analyzed the amplification effects associated to the financial accelerator. We then shift our attention...

This volume contains a collection of papers, commentaries and speeches that review the strategic and operational decisions taken by the central banks to combat the crisis and that reflect on the lessons for the future. The contributions are grouped around five broad topics: monetary policy...