In today’s world of globalised finance, regulators in developing countries have to weigh up the international ramifications of their decisions. This column presents the results of a research project which combines cross-country panel analysis and in-depth case studies of the political economy of the adoption of Basel II/III in the developing world. It finds that regulators in developing countries do not merely adopt Basel II/III because these standards provide the optimal technical solution to financial stability risks in their jurisdictions; concerns about reputation and competition are also important.
Politics and economics
Bank creditors have non-financial preferences too, and may withdraw deposits as a form of discipline. This column shows that protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline that targeted investor banks caused significant decreases in deposit growth, and global data suggest that this type of reaction to bank-specific scandals is widespread.
The tragedy of structural reforms is that they have been captured by policymakers. This column argues that the incessant repetition of the ‘must-reform’ mantra as a solution to the crisis has discouraged academic economists from embracing it as the important research topic it clearly is, and attempts to address the lack of adequate knowledge which makes the implementation of reforms more difficult and limits their effectiveness.
For many, corruption and political cronyism are seen as an inevitable part of Greek politics. This column argues that the same could have been said in the 1970s about Hong Kong, now a beacon of low corruption. Hong Kong managed this turnaround by appointing a non-elected governor accountable to the UK government. Greece could achieve the same by calling on the EU and start counting the benefits.
Trump’s travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries sparked an outcry from businesses about their ability to recruit and retain talent. This column analyses the effect of the Nazi’s purge of Jewish managers from German firms to understand the economic consequences of such discriminatory policies. Results show robust losses in terms of stock prices and dividend payments of affected firms. The policy reduced the aggregate market valuation of firms listed in Berlin by 1.78% of German gross national product.
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5 - 7 November 2018 / Florence, Italy / Florence School of Banking and Finance
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7 - 9 November 2018 / Barcelona / Barcelona Graduate School of Economics
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16 - 16 November 2018 / San Francisco / Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
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17 - 19 November 2018 / Barcelona / Barcelona Graduate School of Economics
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13 - 15 December 2018 / Seoul, South Korea / Asian and Australasian Society of Labour Economics (AASLE)
