The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - the global framework establishing 17 universal and interconnected goals to guide sustainable development efforts - was adopted in 2015 following a uniquely participative and ambitious process. A decade on, it is increasingly evident that most of the...

This paper develops a functional and historical appraisal of finance. We start by proposing a taxonomy of three core, theory-driven functions of the financial system - intermediation, entrepreneurial, and accumulative - that coevolve throughout the history of capitalism. We build an empirical...

This paper develops a functional and historical appraisal of finance. We start by proposing a taxonomy of three core, theory-driven functions of the financial system - intermediation, entrepreneurial, and accumulative - that coevolve throughout the history of capitalism. We build an empirical...

This paper develops a novel empirical framework to analyse the drivers of business expectations in the euro area. Using harmonised data from the European Commission's business surveys for manufacturing, services, and construction, we build composite business expectations indices (BEI) for...

We study the determinants of corporate cash holdings by extending the standard q theory of investment with financing frictions and productivity shocks. While existing models predict a low propensity to hold cash, we show that realistic cash holdings arise only when three ingredients are...