Gerard Caprio – författare

This volume assembles and presents a database on bank regulation in over 150 countries (included also on CD). It offered the first comprehensive cross-country assessment of the impact of bank regulation on the operation of banks, and assesses the validity of the Basel Committee''s influential approach to bank regulation. The treatment also provides an empirical evaluation of the historic debate about the proper role of government in the economy by studying bank regulation and analyzes the role of politics in determining regulatory approaches to banking. The data also indicate that restrictions on the entry of banks, government ownership of banks, and restrictions on bank activities hurt banking system performance. The authors find that domestic political factors shape both regulations and their effectiveness.

The goal of this volume is to bring a more broad-based empirical experience than has been customary to the theoretical debate on how financial systems should be managed. This is achieved not only with cross-country economic studies, but also with an account of carefully chosen and widely contrasting country cases, drawn from Europe, Latin America, Africa, East and South Asia and the former Soviet Union. The widespread financial crises of recent years have all too dramatically illustrated the shortcomings of financial policy under liberalization. The complexity of the issues mocks any idea that a standard liberalization template will be universally effective. The evidence here described confirms that policy recommendations need to take careful account of country conditions. The volume is the outcome of a research project sponsored by the World Bank's Development Economics Research Group.