4207 The system of non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFI; i.e., shadow banks) has grown rapidly in recent decades up to a roughly size of about Dollar 71 trillion. Shadow banks moved for a number of reasons into the focus of regulatory authorities: (1) the risks associated with circumventing...

These days, plenty of cognoscenti in academia and politics share the common concern that the build-up of global macroeconomic imbalances threatens the international economy. While there is broad disagreement on the essence of what an imbalance exactly is, the term is generally associated with...