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We provide an empirical and theoretical analysis of the Greek crisis of 2010. We first benchmark the crisis against all episodes of sudden stops, sovereign debt crises, and lending booms/busts in emerging and advanced economies since 1980. The decline in Greece’s output, especially investment, is deeper and more persistent than in almost any crisis on record over that period. We then propose a stylized macrofinance model to understand what happened. We find that a severe macroeconomiCadjustment was inevitable given the size of the fiscal imbalance; yet, a sizable share of the crisis was also the consequence of the sudden stop that started in late 2009. Our model suggests that the size of the initial macro/financial imbalances can account for muchof the depthof the crisis. When we simulate an emerging-market sudden stop withinitial debt levels (government, private, and external) of an advanced economy, we obtain a Greek crisis. Finally, in recent years, the lack of recovery appears driven by elevated levels of nonperforming loans and strong price rigidities in product markets.

In the current context of emerging and spreading antimicrobial resistance in human and animal infections, new strategies need to be developed to improve the efficacy of commonly prescribed antibiotics and preserve more critical compounds for multi-drug-resistant infections. This preliminary study aimed at evaluating the benefits of an eye cleaning solution containing 0.1% EDTA, 0.02% Tris, and 0.1% Polysorbate 80 in veterinary ophthalmology. A first in vitro study was performed to assess the bactericidal activity of the test solution against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. A second in vitro study evaluated the impact of the test solution on the antimicrobial activity of neomycin against Staphylococcus aureus. The test solution alone did not show bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The test solution seemed to increase the activity of Neomycin Sulfate against Staphylococcus aureus. These findings warrant further research to better characterize the impact on the bactericidal activity of antimicrobials used in veterinary ocular surface infections of the solution containing 0.1% EDTA, 0.02% Tris, and 0.1% Polysorbate 80 as well as of each individual ingredient for a thorough understanding of how this test solution could provide a new strategy to address the growing antimicrobial resistance issue worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business concentration and profit margins have increased across most industries in the United States over the past 20 years. Figure 1 illustrates these trends together with the declines of the [...]

We study time-consistent bank resolution mechanisms. The key constraint is that governments cannot avoid bailouts that are ex post efficient. Contrary to common wisdom, we show that the government may still avoid moral hazard and implement the first-best allocation by using the distribution of bailouts across banks to provide incentives. We analyze properties of credible tournament mechanisms that provide support to the best-performing banks and resolve the worst-performing ones. We extend our mechanism and show that it continues to perform well when banks are imperfect substitutes, when they are differentially interconnected as long as bailout funds can be earmarked, and when their risk-taking is driven by overoptimism instead of moral hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I argue that our failure to nurture free markets is partly responsible for the negative attitudes of many citizens towards capitalism. In doing so, I also revisit the broader argument that the old Washington consensus is dead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]