We analyze the main forces affecting financial system pro-cyclicality (the fact that developments in the financial sector can amplify business cycle fluctuations). We first review some major structural developments in financial markets that may influence pro-cyclicality and that have been...

Insurance companies can be exposed to climate-related physical risk through their operations and to transition risk through their $12 trillion of financial asset holdings. We assess the climate risk exposure of property and casualty (P&C) and life insurance companies in the U.S. We construct a...

This research report is the result of a partnership between the World Bank Group (WBG) and Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) of Japan, initiated by the World Bank Group's President, Jim Yong Kim, and GPIF's Chief Investment Officer, Hiro Mizuno. The aim is for the World Bank and IFC –...

Regulatory arbitrage is an indispensable element of regulatory competition as it provides regulatory substitutes for firms, and allows those firms to optimally benefit from such competition. This also increases the elasticity of demand for regulators and engenders accountability among them....

This case is considered to be the connecting thread to the 35 hour Corporate Finance course for postgraduates and executive education in which: 1) the main concepts of financial statements analysis will be reviewed, including those regarding cost structure, break-even point and operating...

In 2014, the domestic money market saw the onset of a new wave of crisis, manifesting itself in capital outflow, a world's record plunge of the Russian stock indices, the ruble's devaluation, the surge in the key interest rate and interest rates in the interbank lending market. It is external...

This case is considered to be the connecting thread to the 35 hour Corporate Finance course for postgraduates and executive education in which: 1) the main concepts of financial statements analysis will be reviewed, including those regarding cost structure, break-even point and operating...

This paper argues that blockchains or, more broadly, distributed ledgers provide the first viable avenue toward a common economic and financial ledger where, in an envisioned end-state, all economic actors record all their economic assets/liabilities and economic transactions in one virtual...

From the dawn of civilization, the ever-growing sophistication of human society, division of labour, specialization, and comparative advantage rendered trade an indispensable part of any human enterprise. The need for trade begets the need for finance, and as trade becomes globally...

As Islamic finance has developed tremendously for the last decades, a practical guide such as this book is a welcome addition in understanding how the Islamic finance industry structures, implements and executes Shari’ah-compliant transactions, ranging from working capital facilities to highly...