Thema Finanzmärkte

The European Debt Crisis and Fiscal Reaction Functions in Europe 2000-2012

After the global financial crisis, some governments in the EU experienced serious debt financing problems, while others were less affected. This paper seeks to shed light on the divergent fiscal performance by assessing the fiscal conduct in the EU countries before and after the outbreak of the crisis. Fiscal reaction functions of the primary balance are estimated for different groups of EU countries ...

Exchange Rate Uncertainty and International Portfolio Flows

This paper examines the impact of exchange rate uncertainty on different components of portfolio flows, namely equity and bond flows, as well as the dynamic linkages between exchange rate volatility and the variability of these two types of flows. Specifically, a bivariate GARCH-BEKK-in-mean model is estimated using bilateral data for the US vis-à-vis Australia, the UK, Japan, Canada, the euro area, ...

The Scapegoat Theory of Exchange Rates: The First Tests

This paper provides an empirical test of the scapegoat theory of exchange rates (Bacchetta and van Wincoop 2004, 2011). This theory suggests that market participants may at times attach significantly more weight to individual economic fundamentals to rationalize the pricing of currencies, which are partly driven by unobservable shocks. Using novel survey data which directly measure foreign exchange ...

Religious Heterogeneity and Fiscal Policy: Evidence from German Reunification

Theoretical work based on social identity theory and in-group favoritism predicts that increased population diversity (e.g., due to immigration) reduces support for redistributive public policies. In this article, we add to the empirical literature testing this prediction in three ways. First, rather than ethno-linguistic or racial heterogeneity, we analyze religious diversity, which in many countries ...

Finanzsektor: Männliche Dominanz in Top-Entscheidungsgremien bleibt erdrückend

Im Finanzsektor stellen Frauen die Mehrheit der Beschäftigten, an der Spitze stehen aber nach wie vor Männer. Bei einem Anteil von gut vier Prozent waren Frauen in den Vorständen der größten Banken und Sparkassen auch Ende 2012 noch immer die große Ausnahme (+1 Prozentpunkt gegenüber Ende 2011). In den Vorständen der großen Versicherungen sieht es ähnlich aus. Etwas besser stellt sich die Situation ...

Credit Reporting, Financial Intermediation and Identification Systems: International Evidence

Credit reporting systems are an important ingredient for financial markets. These systems are based upon the unique identification of borrowers, which is enabled if a compulsory national identification system exists in a country. We present evidence derived from difference-in-difference analyses on the impact of credit reporting and identification systems on financial intermediation in 172 countries ...

What Influences Banks' Choice of Risk Management Tools? Theory and Evidence

This paper investigates the factors influencing banks' decision to engage in advanced risk management, from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. In recent decades, credit risk management in banks has become highly sophisticated and banks have become more active and advanced in the management of credit risks. We identify two driving factors for risk management: bank competition and sector ...

The Costs for Germany if the Eurozone Collapses

Granularity in Banking and Growth: Does Financial Openness Matter?

We explore the impact of large banks and of financial openness for aggregate growth. Large banks matter because of granular effects: if markets are very concentrated in terms of the size distribution of banks, idiosyncratic shocks at the bank-level do not cancel out in the aggregate but can affect macroeconomic outcomes. Financial openness may affect GDP growth in and of itself, and it may also influence ...

Big Banks and Macroeconomic Outcomes: Theory and Cross-Country Evidence of Granularity

Does the mere presence of big banks affect macroeconomic outcomes? In this paper, we develop a theory of granularity (Gabaix, 2011) for the banking sector, introducing Bertrand competition and heterogeneous banks charging variable markups. Using this framework, we show conditions under which idiosyncratic shocks to bank lending can generate aggregate fluctuations in the credit supply when the banking ...