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There are many plans being suggested to revive the stock market and restore public confidence in Wall Street after the dramatic stock market plunge since June of 2002 when accounting abuses at corporations such as Enron and WorldCom were revealed. The various ideas about what happened and how to fix the problems are discussed.

Inn emerging economies, financial liberalisation appear to bring about banking and currency crises, both of which have lead to financial crises. The evidence for this analysis obtains in East Asia where there was a boom period in the early '90s, then a transitional period in the mid '90s which was followed by a bust period in latter half of 1997.

A positive relationship exists between deregulation policies and financial institutions' efficiency. Banking institutions in Thailand, Korea and Italy were able to achieve significant improvement in growth due to the implementation of deregulation policies by their respective governments. In Korea, the denationalization and deregulation of the banking industry in 1980 has resulted in rapid growth, decline in labor usage and a shift in output production.

Researchers found that marketing managers at savings and loan associations under stock governance took strategic action to manage their environments during the period of deregulation. This action differed distinctly from environmental decision-making by managers of S&Ls under mutual governance during this period.

On the recommendation of the World Bank, Nigeria began to liberalize its financial sector in 1986. Contrary to the prediction of financial repression theory, savings and investment decline in the wake of banking deregulation. By 1995, the Nigerian financial system was in a state of collapse. The paper locates the main failure of Nigeria's financial deregulation in the political and institutional setting of reform. The institutional mechanisms needed to supervise and regulate banking under the new system were absent while private sector banking capacities were weak. Moreover, financial liberalization was quickly captured by a clientalist state as a means of reallocating rents to strategic constituents. An additional precipitating factor was macroeconomic instability. The paper points to the importance of incorporating political and institutional variables into any model of financial reform or transformation. Key words - Nigeria, Africa, financial reform, liberalization, banking

The paper builds a multiperiod, general equilibrium framework for analyzing the macroeconomic effects of financial reforms in developing countries and the costs of maintaining official safety nets. When the creditworthiness of the non-financial sector is weak, the efficiency gains from financial liberalization may be countered by an increase in expected deposit insurance funding obligations, even when prudential supervision is strong. Moreover, given the distortions in a repressed financial system, attempts to reduce risk exposures by increasing bank capital/asset ratios may increase the funding obligations associated with deposit insurance, particularly when the debt-servicing capacity of non-financial firms is low. JEL classification: E20; GI8; O11 Keywords: Financial reforms; Production uncertainty; Credit risk

Previous studies of mortgage demand use time series data within broader frameworks of housing demand and supply equations. A 'double-hurdle' model that uses cross-section family data on determinants of mortgage demand is proposed as an alternative. The proposed framework separates the determination of mortgage desire and approval from that of loan size. Using 1986 Family Expenditure Survey data, the results indicate imperfect capital markets and the non-neutrality of rationing over the sample period.

International financial services form a vital component of the current account balance of some OECD countries such that they should be considered separately from factor services. This distinction is attributed to the cost differential in financial services between local and foreign countries which private investors consider before making international investments. Thus, regulations following the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations are projected to decrease the differential.

The UK Building Societies Act 1986 deregulated the UK financial services industry, allowing diversification and resulting in increased market capacity. The deregulation of the industry has been criticised for encouraging overbidding and the creation of unecessary capacity. The study examines deregulation and its implications. It concludes that regulation divides markets and prevents economies of scope. Diversification is beneficial to financial service companies because it allows them to operate according to their capabilities.

An analytical framework that can analyze the 1992 financial deregulation, particularly the notion that it is a chief agent of change, is constructed. Using a simulation technique, the two principles of financial liberalization in terms of interest rate spreads, the liberalization of capital movements and the liberalization of financial services, are interpreted. The structure of the model and its dynamic properties as well as the equilibrium on the commodity and asset markets are also described.

Changes in the regulatory environment of the British financial sector has prompted organizations to diversify into new markets. Personal financial markets, in particular, have gone through a phase of liberalization in the 1980's which has led to increased competition and forced them to introduce innovative financial services. Corporate restructuring has resulted in expansion of the financial sector in South and East England.

The 1977 Israeli currency liberalization resulted in inflation and current account deterioration, prompting the government to declare it a failure. Not only is liberalization a major macroeconomic shock tohousehold behavior and aggregate demand, it may also remove the anti-inflationary mechanisms provided by financial repression. Successful liberalization entails stabilization policies that are often fiscally expensive. A possible option for Israel in 1977 was a simple intermediation taxto replace the administrative system, which would have expanded market involvement in the economy.

Financial intermediaries such as commercial banks, savings institutions, finance companies, credit unions, insurance companies and pension funds are said to belong to the most regulated and supervised sector in the economy. However, current developments are invalidating existing structures regulating each separate financial intermediary. Regulation and supervision should therefore be directed at financial activities and markets in general rather than at particular institutions to the financial services sector. Theoretical and practical attention will be given to economic rationales of deregulations. One of the basic arguments in favour of regulations - the danger of market failure -holds for almost every type of financial itermediary as a result of the distinct nature of financial operations compared with that of non-financial industries and, more important, the increasing blurring of functions between the financial intermediaries.

The liberalization of financial markets in developing countries is needed for the achievement of economic growth. Competition would lower the prices of financial services offered in these markets. Some of the areas that could be liberalized include privatization, infrastructure finance, securities market development, pension system reform and foreign investment. Moreover, the globalization of financial services may open up new markets for local firms.

Critics claim that Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt's deregulation of the securities and accounting industries are partially to blame for the Enron scandal. Some have called for him recuse himself from the investigation of Enron and Arthur Anderson, but Pitt says his past associations won't keep him from toughening regulations.

Recent studies have conjectured that there may be a link between financial liberalization (FL) and financial instability in emerging economies. Most of these studies, however, do not investigate whether emerging economies are, in fast, becoming structurally more vulnerable to currency and banking crises. In this paper, I argue that emerging economies are becoming more susceptible to both currency and banking crises after FL. Using data for 27 emerging economies - excluding transition economies - from 1973 to the present, a univariate analysis indicates that the likelihood of currency crises may increase with stronger reactions to financial variables than to real or external trade variables. Similarly, for banking crises, interest rate, exchange rate, maturity, and default may increase, while simultaneously the support structure of the government seems to decline.