The financial crisis that began in 2007 has brought to the fore the issues of excesses in lending, leverage, and risk-taking as some of the fundamental causes of this crisis. At the same time, in dealing with the financial crisis there have been large scale interventions by governments, often...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. AN OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE -- III. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS -- IV. EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE -- V. CONCLUSION -- References -- DERIVATION OF DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM CONDITIONS -- DATA SOURCES AND DEFINITIONS.