This a selection from Jeremy Bentham’s Defence of Usury (1787), a classic critique of Adam Smith’s endorsement of legal maximum rate of interest. Bentham’s main point against the restriction is that “projectors†generate positive externalities. The extract offers...

The dominance of conglomerates accords urgency to the need to develop a more consolidated approach to supervising the financial system. Modifications to the legal framework, including passage of a proposed Omnibus Banking Bill, would enable the supervisory authorities to better implement...

Le capitalisme financier est entré dans une crise profonde en 2007. Cette crise, d'abord bancaire et localisée dans le marché du crédit immobilier américain, est rapidement devenu mondiale,financière et réelle. Elle a remis en cause la forte croissance dont bénéficiait l'économie...

L e capitalisme financier est entré dans une crise profonde en 2007. Cette crise, d’abord bancaire et localisée dans le marché du crédit immobilier américain, est rapidement devenue mondiale, financière et réelle. Elle a remis en cause la forte croissance dont bénéficiait...

We use data from the US airline industry to investigate whether firms that are under bankruptcy protection, as well as these firms' product market rivals, change the quality of the products they offer. We measure the quality of the services offered by a carrier using flight cancellations and...

We investigate the effects of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings on product market competition using data from the US airline industry. We find that bankrupt airlines permanently downsize their national route structure, their airport-specific networks, and their route-specific flight frequency and...

To what extent can monetary and financial crises and cycles be explained through economic theories? This paper is aimed at highlighting why a reliance on economic theories may be necessary given certain flaws which have been revealed from the recent Financial Crisis. Namely, that economic and...

A sufficient and appropriate degree of central bank independence is widely acknowledged to be necessary for the goal of achieving price stability. However, despite the levels of independence claimed to be enjoyed by several central banks, recent events indicate shifts in focus of monetary policy...

This paper proposes a unifying theory of forecasting in the form of a Golden Rule of Forecasting. The Golden Rule is to be conservative. A conservative forecast is consistent with cumulative knowledge about the present and the past. To be conservative, forecasters must seek all knowledge...

Many questions have been raised as to whether financial accounting has become more conservative. The value relevance and qualitative characteristics of accounting information have become topics of particular relevance given the role they have assumed in influencing the value judgment of...