Since the financial crisis, attention has focused on central counterparties (CCPs) as a solution to systemic risk for a variety of financial markets, ranging from repurchase agreements and options to swaps. However, internationally accepted standards and the academic literature have left...

Over the past 10 years, financial firms have increased the size of their positions in the oil futures market. At the same time, oil prices have increased dramatically. The conjunction of these developments has led some observers to argue that financial speculation caused the run-up in oil...

The recent corporate failures in the US and in Europe have considerably damaged investors’ confidence in the functioning of financial markets and the ability of the regulatory framework to safeguard their interest and prevent fraud. These episodes demonstrate that market failures exist, which...

What legal, political and economic institutions are shaping privatisations processes in the world? This paper addresses the issue presenting new evidence for a sample of 49 countries. From an empirical analysis for the period 1977-1996, the decision to privatise appears to be related to...

This study has two objectives: to estimate the impact of share issue privatisations on the growth of world capital markets (especially stock markets), and to examine the effect privatisation has had on the pattern of share ownership by individuals and institutional investors. We begin by...

Am 22. und 23. März 2007 findet die CESifo International Spring Conference statt. Hauptthema der Veranstaltung ist die Verfassung der Finanzmärkte in einem Umfeld sich abschwächenden weltwirtschaftlichen Wachstums. Was sind die Risikopotentiale nach Jahren ohne nennenswerte Krisen angesichts...

Nach den Ergebnissen des 81. World Economic Survey (WES), an dem sich 1 144 Experten aus 91 Ländern beteiligt haben, hat sich das ifo Weltwirtschaftsklima im Juli 2003 deutlich aufgehellt, nachdem es bereits im April erste Zeichen einer Erholung gezeigt hatte. Mit 91,3 Punkten (1995 = 100)...