Integrated capital markets could smooth a large share of country-specific consumption and income fluctuations. Equity capital play an important role in the process. Insolvency regulations are a key factor for stronger equity market integration. Uniform European insolvency regulations are...

Länderspezifische Konsum- und Einkommensschwankungen können zu einem Großteil über integrierte Kapitalmärkte ausgeglichen werden. Dabei kommt Eigenkapital eine wichtige Rolle zu. Insolvenzregeln sind ein wichtiger Faktor für eine stärkere Integration des Eigenkapitalmarktes. Europäisch...

This paper analyzes links between institutional harmonization and bilateral portfolio debt and equity holdings at the sectoral level. Motivated by the action plan for the European Capital Markets Union, we examine the potential for legal harmonization and convergence in institutional quality to...

Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are highly dependent on bank financing, which is why they have been particularly hit by tighter credit conditions in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Given that SMEs account for about 60% of value added and 70% of employment in the euro area,...

A key challenge for economic policy today is to make the financial system more resilient. The literature finds that high indebtedness (or: leverage), both in the financial and in the real sectors, is a danger to macroeconomic stability and growth. Moreover, the design of the corporate tax system...

Regulatory bank levies set incentives for banks to reduce leverage. At the same time, corporate income taxation makes funding through debt more attractive. In this paper, we explore how regulatory levies affect bank capital structure, depending on corporate income taxation. Based on bank balance...