This paper studies the macroeconomic conditions and policy environments under which stock market booms occurred among ten developed countries during the 20th Century. We find that booms tended to occur during periods of above-average growth of real output, and below-average and falling...

Building an understanding of the interrelations of housing, finance, policy and the economy is a critical step towards developing a strategy that permits policy makers to leverage resources and enable the housing market to function better in the pursuit of economic, financial, social and...

Capital flow and commodity cycles have long been connected with economic crises. Sparse historical data, however, has made it difficult to connect their timing. We date turning points in global capital flows and commodity prices across two centuries and provide estimates from alternative data...

Capital flow and commodity cycles have long been connected with economic crises. Sparse historical data, however, has made it difficult to connect their timing. We date turning points in global capital flows and commodity prices across two centuries and provide estimates from alternative data...

This Article examines the International Monetary Fund's recent efforts to play an assertive regulatory role with regard to global capital flows. There is a growing consensus among scholars and policymakers that states must carefully manage capital flows and coordinate their policies for doing...

The failures of the socialist model, evidenced by high unemployment, have led France to reorient itself towards more enterprise creation. These entrepreneurial ventures require financing. However, bankers do not want to assume the high risk of newly created enterprises. Moreover, small...

Both microcredit and sub-prime loans are loans to poor consumers, often in small amounts leading to high interest rates. These high interest rates charged by banks have raised the question whether the poor, often illiterate or with limited literacy, understand the amount of interests they are...

In recent months, sovereign wealth funds have received much attention and criticism on the world stage. This paper analyzes these funds from a multidimensional perspective, showing their relative size, origins, history, strategies, and what regulatory oversight they have. Next, it examines why...

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have steadily increased their importance in the global financial system in the last decade and especially during the financial crisis period. They currently have almost $6 trillion assets under management, which is more than the assets of Private Equity and Hedge...

We investigate the effects of financial risk cycles on business cycles, using a panel spanning 73 countries since 1900. Agents use a Bayesian learning model to form their beliefs on risk. We construct a proxy of these beliefs and show that perceived low risk encourages risk-taking, augmenting...