In the United States and Europe, efforts are being made to limit banks' proprietary trading of securities. A key argument is that if banks invest in securities, they reduce the credit supply to the real economy. A new study uses microdata to examine the role of proprietary trading in times of crisis and its impact on lending activity.

It is often said that wage moderation in Germany was the primary cause of the current account imbalances in the euro area that emerged prior to the financial crisis. A new study puts this hypothesis to the test.

By international standards, cash continues to be a very popular means of payment in Germany. Even for larger purchases, customers in Germany tend to use cash more frequently than those in other countries. A new study provides indications of the reasons behind this behaviour.