This study aims at assessing empirically the determinants of changes in risk-weighted bank capital ratios in the 1990s in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. Both bank-specific characteristics, factors at the banking industry level and the degree of undercapitalization...

Focusing on the years 1980–1995 and providing empirical evidence for six European countries, namely Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, the author discusses whether cross-country variations in financial structure have a systematic relationship with inter-country...

Bank Capital, Bank Lending, and Monetary Policy in the Euro Area This paper provides arguments and evidence in favour of the hypothesis that bank capital matters for euro area banks' loan response to a change in monetary policy. Bank-level panel data estimates for 1991-1999 show that the lending...

This study empirically examines the development of the high-yield segment of the corporate bond market in the United States, as a pioneer country, and the United Kingdom and the euro area, as later adopting countries. Estimated diffusion models show for the United States a significant pioneer...

This study develops a new monthly euro Area‐wide Leading Indicator (ALI) for the euro area business cycle. It derives the composite ALI by applying a deviation cycle methodology with a one‐sided band pass filter and choosing nine leading series. Our main findings are that i) the applied...

This study examines empirically the information content of the euro area Bank Lending Survey for aggregate credit and output growth. The responses of the lending survey, especially those related to loans to enterprises, are a significant leading indicator for euro area bank credit and real GDP...

In-sample and out-of-sample evidence for major countries shows that stock price determinants (earnings, risk-free interest rate and equity risk premium) accurately predict real Gross Domestic Product beyond 1 year compared to the stock price index, dividend yield, price/earnings ratio and the...

This empirical study examines the relation between the equity premium - the difference between the expected stock and risk-free return - and inflation in the major economies in the post-Bretton Woods era. We estimate a country-average level of the equity premium between 0.8% and 2%, confirming a...

Empirical estimates of an error-correction model, nested in a partial adjustment framework, show that the euro had a temporary impact, via mergers and acquisitions activity, on corporate bond issuance in the euro area. In addition, a permanent effect is found for corporate bonds issued by...