Bank Leverage Ratios and Financial Stability: A Micro- and Macroprudential Perspective

Bank leverage ratios have made an impressive and largely unopposed return; they are mostly used alongside risk-weighted capital requirements. The reasons for this return are manifold, and they are not limited to the fact that bank equity levels in the wake of the global financial crisis (GFC) were exceptionally thin, necessitating a string of costly bailouts. A number of other factors have been equally important; these include, among others, the world's revulsion with debt following the GFC and the eurozone crisis, and the universal acceptance of Hyman Minsky's insights into the nature of the financial system and its role in the real economy. The best examples of the causal link between excessive debt, asset bubbles, and financial instability are the Spanish and Irish banking crises, which resulted from nothing more sophisticated than straightforward real estate loans. Bank leverage ratios are primarily seen as a microprudential measure that intends to increase bank resilience. Yet in today's environment of excessive liquidity due to very low interest rates and quantitative easing, bank leverage ratios should also be viewed as a key part of the macroprudential framework. In this context, this paper discusses the role of leverage ratios as both microprudential and macroprudential measures. As such, it explains the role of the leverage cycle in causing financial instability and sheds light on the impact of leverage restraints on good bank governance and allocative efficiency

From government to governance: Polish regional development agencies in a changing regional context

This article charts the evolving role of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in Poland. It argues that changes to regional institutional and policy environments, linked to processes of regionalisation, EU accession, and the administration of European Union structural funds, have prompted increasing diversification of RDA activities. Moreover, questions of democratic accountability and economic efficiency are becoming increasingly pointed. Has regionalisation boosted the democratic accountability and regional orientation of agencies? Has administrative reform simplified agencies' delivery of development programmes? What influence has the administration of structural funds had on this? The article explores these issues, stressing generally that theoretical analyses of RDA activities must take increasing account of agency "positioning," i.e., their role and purpose in an increasingly crowded and complex regional policy arena. Future scenarios for the evolution of RDAs in Poland are also outlined

Aristolochic acids and their derivatives are widely implicated in liver cancers in Taiwan and throughout Asia

Mutational signatures reveal high burdens of aristolochic acid–related mutations in Asian liver cancers, with Taiwan most intensely affected.</jats:p