Banks fulfill special functions in an economy. The primary objective of a bank insolvency regime must be to preserve these essential functions. This objective should guide the design of the legal framework for bank insolvency. The banking supervisory authority or a designated resolution...

This paper is concerned with the allegation that fair value accounting rules have contributed significantly to the recent financial crisis. It focuses on one particular channel for that contribution: the impact of fair value on actual or potential failure of banks. The paper compares four...

The recent report by Standards and poor has generated a lot of controversies. While some commentators are saying such report should be discarded others are clamouring for its proper perusal and examination. Investors are beginning to panic over their investments. The question in the lips of...

This paper considers recent experience and proposals for enabling shocks to the banking system to be absorbed without the need for taxpayer funded bailouts. The paper argues that guarantees have an important but limited role to play in the financial safety net, when the operation of financial...

Should judges protect private property rights and constitutional rights as vigilantly in times of crisis as in ordinary times? Conventional wisdom holds that crises justify suspending the rule of law and allow government discretion to address the crises. I argue that this lesson of past economic...

The paper provides the IMF staff views on policy options to mitigate the risks posed by institutions perceived as too-important-to-fail (“TITF"). These institutions have become bigger and more complex since the crisis, and risky practices have started to reappear. The paper emphasizes the need...

This paper studies the economic impact of the current global economic downturn on the household sector. Household budgets can be negatively affected by declines in nominal wages and increases in unemployment. We empirically test this effect for the small open emerging economy. As a result of a...

This article analyzes the manifold situations in which the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) has influenced — or has failed to influence — federal securities regulation and state corporate law, and the prospective roles for the EMH in these contexts. In federal securities regulation, the EMH...