This paper critically reviews the debate on CRAs and, in the light thereof, analyses the European regulatory approach to CRAs, thereby combining insights from economics and law. We first provide some basic background on the function of CRAs. Thereafter, we focus on the two main tasks for which...

The impact of the global financial crisis varies across countries. We examine whether cross-country differences in output loss and speed of recovery are affected by differences in labor market flexibility. By employing cross-country regressions and including control variables like trade and...

We estimate Taylor rule models for the euro area using Consensus Economics forecasts of inflation and output growth for the period 1998.6-2010.8. We first examine whether the recent financial crisis has affected ECB policies. Our results indicate that the ECB puts stronger emphasis on...

What does the general public know about banking supervision? What objectives does the public think bank supervisors should pursue? We investigate these issues using a survey among Dutch households. First, we find that the public's knowledge about banking supervision is far from perfect. We also...

Using 59 studies, we perform a meta-regression analysis of studies examining the relationship between inflation and central bank independence (CBI). The studies considered are very different with respect to the CBI indicator used, the sample of countries and time periods covered, model...

We analyse the microeconomic determinants of cross-border bank acquisitions in 11 transition economies over the period 1992-2006. We find that foreign banks target relatively large and efficient banks when they enter transition economies with weak institutions. This evidence provides support for...

Following Eijffinger and Geraats (2006), we construct an index of transparency of banking supervisors that takes political, economic, procedural, policy and operational transparency into account. Based on a survey, we construct the index for 24 banking supervisors. There are large differences...

Studies on governance generally ignore spatial dependence among the observations. Employing spatial econometric methods, we find that governance in one country exhibits a positive relationship with governance in neighbouring countries. Consequently, a change in a single explanatory variable in a...

In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, welchen Einfluss Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrisen auf den Grad der wirtschaftlichen Entscheidungsfreiheit («economic freedom») ausüben. Die Analyse beruht einerseits auf einer Fallstudie der skandinavischen Bankenkrise der neunziger Jahre, andererseits auf...

Drawing on nationwide and representative survey data for the Netherlands, this article tests, first, to what degree economic subjects are aware of the level of both government debt and deficits, and, second, examines whether fiscal policy relates to individual saving decisions. The results...