The 'Great Contraction' in global economic activity triggered by the financial crisis and the extraordinary fiscal and monetary measures that public authorities had to undertake in order to put the economy back on track by putting public finances under heavy strains and leading to extremely low ...

Economic history is replete with episodes of financial crises creating havoc for the real economy. These episodes typically have three important ingredients. First there are large financial flows to finance a bubbling asset class such as sovereigns or housing with 'safe' debt. Second there is a sharp ...

The current international financial crisis is part of a perennial pattern. Today’s events echo earlier big international financial crises that were triggered by events in the U.S. financial system. Examples include the crises of 1857 1893 1907 and 1929–33. This crisis has many similarities to those ...

The financial developments of the last decade had a large impact on the management of risk providing more diversified portfolios to investors. Based on these complex financial contracts investors were able to shift the investment possibilities frontier outward however that movement generated intricate ...