Our concern in this paper is two-fold: first to see whether the determinants of bank distress and failure have been any different in the GFC from previous years: second to see whether simple measures of capital adequacy outperform their risk-weighted counterparts as predictors, despite the focus...

Banks play a central role in the functioning of the economy. Not only do they allocate financial resources, they also collectively create money in the process of granting loans. In this way, they have a considerable impact on the type of activities that are financed in society. During the...

On June 4-5, 2014, SUERF and Baffi Finlawmetrics jointly organised a Colloquium/Conference “Money, Regulation and Growth: Financing New Growth in Europe” at Bocconi University, Milan. The present SUERF Study includes a selection of papers based on the authors’ contributions to the Milan...

The paper analyses the performance of emerging equity markets since 1985 in the light of the Asia crisis. Contrary to the high hopes of many investors, emerging markets have severely under-performed as an asset class over the whole period, (es-pecially since 1994), lagging well behind the US and...

This paper considers the implementation challenges facing the Basel Committee's new proposals on bank capital standards. When compared with the existing Capital Accord, the proposals represent a shift across two intersecting dimensions-regulatory versus economic capital, and rules-based versus...

This essay investigates the relationship between the internationalization of banks, profitability and shareholder value. We argue that in general internationalization has not contributed to profitability, and shareholders have not gained by investing in banks with more international activities....

The financial press gives very regular attention to art and culture in their many forms. Business newspapers such as the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Het Financieele Dagblad and De Financieel Economische Tijd give over plenty of space in their weekend editions to news of art auction...

This paper studies the incentives to join or enlarge a monetary union under alternative assumptions about the extent of market reform within the union and in candidate countries. Lack of labour mobility, wage/price flexibility or fiscal reform brings costs for both new entrants and in the...