Comparing Financial Systems

Download or read book Comparing Financial Systems written by Franklin Allen and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Comparing Financial Systems written by Franklin Allen and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2001-01-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors argue that the view that market-based systems are best is simplistic; a more nuanced approach is necessary. Financial systems are crucial to the allocation of resources in a modern economy. They channel household savings to the corporate sector and allocate investment funds among firms; they allow intertemporal smoothing of consumption by households and expenditures by firms; and they enable households and firms to share risks. These functions are common to the financial systems of most developed economies. Yet the form of these financial systems varies widely. In the United States and the United Kingdom competitive markets dominate the financial landscape, whereas in France, Germany, and Japan banks have traditionally played the most important role. Why do different countries have such different financial systems? Is one system better than all the others? Do different systems merely represent alternative ways of satisfying similar needs? Is the current trend toward market-based systems desirable? Franklin Allen and Douglas Gale argue that the view that market-based systems are best is simplistic. A more nuanced approach is necessary. For example, financial markets may be bad for risk sharing; competition in banking may be inefficient; financial crises can be good as well as bad; and separation of ownership and control can be optimal. Financial institutions are not simply veils, disguising the allocation mechanism without affecting it, but are crucial to overcoming market imperfections. An optimal financial system relies on both financial markets and financial intermediaries.

Download or read book The German Financial System written by Jan Pieter Krahmen (editor) and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by a team of scholars, predominantly from the Centre for Financial Studies in Frankfurt, this volume provides a descriptive survey of the present state of the German financial system and a new analytical framework to explain its workings.

Download or read book The Origins and Development of Financial Markets and Institutions written by Jeremy Atack and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-16 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Bank-based and Market-based Financial Systems written by Asl? Demirgüç-Kunt and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Financial Structure and Economic Growth written by Aslı Demirgüç-Kunt and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CD-ROM contains: World Bank data.

Download or read book Understanding Financial Crises written by Franklin Allen and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-04-02 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What causes a financial crisis? Can financial crises be anticipated or even avoided? What can be done to lessen their impact? Should governments and international institutions intervene? Or should financial crises be left to run their course? In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, many blamed international institutions, corruption, governments, and flawed macro and microeconomic policies not only for causing the crisis but also unnecessarily lengthening and deepening it. Based on ten years of research, the authors develop a theoretical approach to analyzing financial crises. Beginning with a review of the history of financial crises and providing readers with the basic economic tools needed to understand the literature, the authors construct a series of increasingly sophisticated models. Throughout, the authors guide the reader through the existing theoretical and empirical literature while also building on their own theoretical approach. The text presents the modern theory of intermediation, introduces asset markets and the causes of asset price volatility, and discusses the interaction of banks and markets. The book also deals with more specialized topics, including optimal financial regulation, bubbles, and financial contagion.