This thesis consists of three chapters that analyze the stability of financial institutions. The focus lies on self-fulfilling liquidity crises that are associated with maturity transformation conducted by financial intermediaries such as banks. The first chapter shows that the government has a...

Credit rating agencies are frequently criticized for producing biased sovereign ratings. This article discusses how the home country of rating agencies could affect rating decisions as a result of political economy influences and cultural distance. Using data from nine agencies based in six...

Using novel data on individual euro area banks' balance sheets this paper shows that exposure to stressed European sovereigns manifested in a liquidity shock to their international funding through two channels: (i) a contraction in cross-border funding, and (ii) a contraction in US wholesale...