Using various indicators for central bank independence the authors examine the relationship between central bank independence and government budget deficits. Using a two-stage procedure they also analyze whether central bank independence affects the monetization of deficits. First, the...

We construct a money market pressure index based on central bank reserves and the short-term nominal interest rate to identify banking crises, thereby extending the index proposed by Von Hagen and Ho (2007), also in terms of the number of countries covered. We compare the crises identified by...

This paper examines the impact of bank ownership concentration on two indicators of bank riskiness, namely banks' non-performing loans and capital adequacy. Using balance sheet information for around 500 commercial banks from more than 50 countries averaged over 2005-2007, we find that...

Purpose – This paper aims to examine whether credit ratings of banks are related to their location, i.e. inside or outside the Euro Area. Design/methodology/approach – The authors estimate a multilevel ordered probit model for banks’ credit ratings in 2011 and control for bank-specific...