Central banks have been made more independent in many countries. A common rationale has been the existence of a credibility (or lack-of-trust) problem for monetary policy. This indicates a possible and until now unexplored link between social trust and central-bank independence. Our empirical...

Many countries have undertaken central-bank independence reforms, but the years of implementation differ. What explains such differences in timing? This is of interest more broadly, as it sheds light on factors that matter for the speed at which economic reforms come about. We study a rich set...

Stock brokers are entrepreneurs who incur switching costs when the change brokerage houses. We use Helsinki Stock Exchange data to investigate these costs by examining whether investors are loyal to their brokers when brokers move. We find that investors who have extant relationships with the...