The financial systems of developed countries are evolving at a faster rate than ever before in the direction of market solutions to all problems, while many securities markets have become global in scope. The thirteen essays in this volume consist of papers read by leading European academics in the fields of banking and finance. The first four chapters deal with the evolution in general terms, while the remaining chapters are concerned with the impact of the changes on different parts of the financial system.
Collectively, mankind has never had it so good despite periodic economic crises of which the current sub-prime crisis is merely the latest example. Much of this success is attributable to the increasing efficiency of the world's financial institutions as finance has proved to be one of the most important causal factors in economic performance. In a series of insightful essays, financial and economic historians examine how financial innovations from the seventeenth century to the present have continually challenged established institutional arrangements, forcing change and adaptation by governments, financial intermediaries, and financial markets. Where these have been successful, wealth creation and growth have followed. When they failed, growth slowed and sometimes economic decline has followed. These essays illustrate the difficulties of co-ordinating financial innovations in order to sustain their benefits for the wider economy, a theme that will be of interest to policy makers as well as economic historians.
Why do different countries have such different financial systems? Is one system better than the other? This text argues that the view that market-based systems are best is simplistic, and suggests that a more nuanced approach is necessary.
"This paper reviews, appraises, and critiques theoretical and empirical research on the connections between the operation of the financial system and economic growth. While subject to ample qualifications and countervailing views, the preponderance of evidence suggests that both financial intermediaries and markets matter for growth and that reverse causality alone is not driving this relationship. Furthermore, theory and evidence imply that better developed financial systems ease external financing constraints facing firms, which illuminates one mechanism through which financial development influences economic growth. The paper highlights many areas needing additional research"--NBER website
Contemporary Financial Intermediation, 4th Edition by Greenbaum, Thakor, and Boot continues to offer a distinctive approach to the study of financial markets and institutions by presenting an integrated portrait that puts information and economic reasoning at the core. Instead of primarily naming and describing markets, regulations, and institutions as is common, Contemporary Financial Intermediation explores the subtlety, plasticity and fragility of financial institutions and credit markets. In this new edition every chapter has been updated and pedagogical supplements have been enhanced. For the financial sector, the best preprofessional training explains the reasons why markets, institutions, and regulators evolve they do, why we suffer recurring financial crises occur and how we typically react to them. Our textbook demands more in terms of quantitative skills and analysis, but its ability to teach about the forces shaping the financial world is unmatched. - Updates and expands a legacy title in a valuable field - Holds a prominent position in a growing portfolio of finance textbooks - Teaches tactics on how to recognize and forecast fluctuations in financial markets
Influenced by technological innovation, banks and their businesses are changing dramatically. This book explores the transformation and prospects of financial market institutions (banks, insurance companies, pension funds and microfinance organizations) in the context of the development of financial innovation, financial engineering and financial technologies, taking into account risks and new opportunities for development. It presents new approaches to the sustainable development of financial and credit institutions, taking into account the risk management and crisis management of their activities in the macro and microeconomic environment. Contributors from Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Ireland and Italy present their expert opinions on the practice of financial intermediaries in the conditions of economic transformation under the influence of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the Covid-19 pandemic. This book includes some of the key debates in this area including the genesis of financial markets in the paradigm of economic digitalization, the evolution of financial intermediaries from the classical model to the ecosystem, and the regulation of neo-banks. The book will be of interest to academics and practitioners in various spheres of theoretical and empirical knowledge, including economics, finance and banking, who are interested in investigation of the complex of fundamental (international and domestic) trends in the development of financial intermediation in the globalized financial markets.
A new, evolutionary explanation of markets and investor behavior Half of all Americans have money in the stock market, yet economists can’t agree on whether investors and markets are rational and efficient, as modern financial theory assumes, or irrational and inefficient, as behavioral economists believe. The debate is one of the biggest in economics, and the value or futility of investment management and financial regulation hangs on the answer. In this groundbreaking book, Andrew Lo transforms the debate with a powerful new framework in which rationality and irrationality coexist—the Adaptive Markets Hypothesis. Drawing on psychology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and other fields, Adaptive Markets shows that the theory of market efficiency is incomplete. When markets are unstable, investors react instinctively, creating inefficiencies for others to exploit. Lo’s new paradigm explains how financial evolution shapes behavior and markets at the speed of thought—a fact revealed by swings between stability and crisis, profit and loss, and innovation and regulation. An ambitious new answer to fundamental questions about economics and investing, Adaptive Markets is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how markets really work.
Broad-based and inclusive financial systems significantly raise growth, alleviate poverty, and expand economic opportunity. Households, small enterprises, and the rural poor often have difficulty obtaining financial services for a multitude of reasons, including transaction costs, perceived risk, inadequate infrastructure, and information barriers. Yet many financial institutions are now making profitable inroads into underserved markets through formal banking, investment in equities, venture capital, postal banks, and microfinance. Access to Finance addresses the challenges of making financial systems more inclusive, emulating successful ventures in new markets, and utilizing technologies and government policies to support the expansion of financial access. The contributors examine many dimensions of financial access, including: • Measuring financial access • Understanding the impact of expanded access • Examining alternative institutional models • Exploring new technologies and information infrastructure • Evaluating government policies toward outreach.
