We offer a rational expectations model of the dynamics of innovative industries. The fundamental value of innovations is uncertain and one must learn whether they are solid or fragile. Also, when the industry is new, it is difficult to monitor managers and make sure they exert the effort...

Moral hazard in an organization occurs when people make decisions and take a high risk for their own benefit, given that they would not have to bear all the negative ensuing consequences should they occur. This risk transferred to third parties is generally due to the catalysts that foster this...

In today's financial system, complex financial institutions are connected through an opaque network of financial exposures. These connections contribute to financial deepening and greater savings allocation efficiency, but are also unstable channels of contagion. Basel III and Solvency II should...

Why do many households remain exposed to large exogenous sources of non-systematic income risk? We use a series of randomized field experiments in rural India to test the importance of price and non-price factors in the adoption of an innovative rainfall insurance product. Demand is...

The aim of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of risk sharing mechanisms in the euro area and whether a supranational fiscal risk sharing mechanism could insure countries against very severe downturns. Using an unbalanced panel of 15 euro area countries over the period 1979-2010, the...

This paper presents a technical note on Mexico’s Financial Sector Assessment Program update. The Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal has successfully led a range of direct policy measures that have stimulated the development of the housing finance market. The government improved the legal...

The Netherlands has been heavily affected by the global financial crisis. The “Twin Peaks†supervision model, with Netherlands Central Bank - De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) as the prudential supervisor, and the Authority for Financial Markets (AFM) responsible for conduct-of-business...

This note looks at insurance of minor, recurrent losses. The main concern is with efficiency properties of full coverage. As motivation and running example we concider a regime, currently operative in several European countries, that offers employees complete wage reimbursement during short...

The aim of the report is to review existing approaches and available policy options to improve access to health care services and financial protection against health shocks for informal-sector workers (ISWs). Along with their families, ISWs represent the majority of the population in many...

Economic Transition and Health Care Reform: The Experience of Europe and Central Asia