The paper argues that while attempts have been made to reform four of the five key pillars of banks’ operation, (i.e. competition, resolution, supervisory, and auditing and valuation policies), less attention has been paid to the role of bank governance and systemic risk, despite a strong link...

The profit share—the share of factor income going to capital—has trended upwards since about the mid 1980s in most developed economies. Not all of the possible explanations for this are consistent with the timing or the cross-country pattern of the data. Our preferred explanation is that...

This paper analyses various issues that need to be tackled when promoting financial stability, reviewing the progress made in certain key areas and the remaining challenges. It explores the measurement of systemic risk and of individual institutions’ contribution to it. It discusses aspects of...

The crisis enveloping global financial markets since August 2007 was triggered by actual and prospective credit losses on US mortgages. Was the United States just unlucky to have been the first to experience a housing crisis? Or was it inherently more susceptible to one? I examine the limited...