We analyze the impact of financial globalization on business cycle synchronization utilizing a proprietary database on banks’ international exposure for industrialized countries during 1978–2006. Theory makes ambiguous predictions and identification has been elusive due to lack of bilateral...

We study the effect of financial integration (through banks) on the transmission of international business cycles. In a sample of 18/20 developed countries between 1978 and 2009 we find that, in periods without financial crises, increases in bilateral banking linkages are associated with more...

The current financial crisis has been characterized as a 'Minsky' moment, and as such provides the conditions required for a reregulation of the financial system similar to that of the New Deal banking reforms of the 1930s. However, Minsky's theory was not one that dealt in moments but rather in...

The report assesses the macro-financial situation in Georgia. This study explores the private sector financing environment, in particular for the SMEs segment. It examines the needs and obstacles of SMEs in accessing finance as well as the institutional and legal environment they operate in. We...

This paper describes how the two most important clearing and settlement systems in Denmark, VP and the Sumclearing, function in practice. Furthermore, it analyses how the legal framework in the Securities Trading Act, STA, based on directive 98/26/EC on settlement finality in payment and...

Merchants pay interchange fees to card issuers when they accept credit or debit cards as payment. Many merchants have complained that the fees far exceed issuers' costs for processing such transactions. In response to those complaints, Congress directed the Federal Reserve to impose a cap on...