Italy's economic and banking systems have been under stress in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and Euro Crisis. Firms in business groups have been more likely to survive this challenging environment, compared to unaffiliated firms. Better performance stems from access to an internal...

We compare the structure and performance of private (non-GSE) mortgage-backed securities sold by large issuers vs. those sold by small issuers over the period 2000-2006. Securities sold by large issuers have less subordination — a greater fraction of the deal receiving AAA rating — than...

The Financial Crisis and the Great Recession that followed illustrate the sensitivity of the economy to a housing bust. This paper shows that financial integration both amplified the volatility of housing prices and economic sensitivity to housing-price shocks. We exploit variation credit-supply...

This paper looks at how advances in information and telecommunications technologies have been changing the structure of the financial system by lowering transaction costs and reducing asymmetric information. Households and smaller businesses can now raise funds in securities markets as financial...