In this article, we explore the demand for the euro for risk management purposes, and the evidence of stock market integration in the euro area. We define a reserve currency as one that investors demand either because it helps them hedge real interest risk and inflation risk, or because it helps...

Many countries have developed strategies to attract and retain qualified health workers in underserved areas, but there is only scarce and weak evidence on their successes or failures. It is difficult to compare lessons and measure results from the few evaluations that are available. Evaluation...

This thesis analyses the cost of credit in the micro-finance industry in South Africa. The study situates micro-lending agreements within the law of contract, beginning with an examination of contractual fairness in terms of the common law: the fundamental principle of freedom of contract that...

We apply machine-learning techniques to construct nonlinear nonparametric forecasting models of consumer credit risk. By combining customer transactions and credit bureau data from January 2005 to April 2009 for a sample of a major commercial bank’s customers, we are able to construct...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse regulatory reform in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007-2008.Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes a framework for regulatory reform that begins with the observation that financial manias and panics cannot be legislated away,...

Market prices are well known to efficiently collect and aggregate diverse information regarding the value of commodities and assets. The role of markets has been particularly suitable to pricing financial securities. This article provides an alternative application of the pricing mechanism to...

The quantitative aspirations of economists and financial analysts have for many years beenbased on the belief that it should be possible to build models of economic systems—andfinancial markets in particular—that are as predictive as those in physics. While this perspective has led to a...