This book explores some relevant distortions and market failures in financial and banking markets caused by the recent financial crisis and offers important insights to policymakers as well. After having introduced the reader to the economic background behind the origin of the present financial turmoil, the book proposes a distinct angle to look at some macro and microeconomic aspects. The volume discusses whether and to what extent policies, implemented by governments and monetary authorities to countervail bank defaults and avoid a disastrous financial instability, have in some way determined opportunistic conducts (moral hazard), changes in banks' behaviour, distortive incentives and market failures. Furthermore, the book offers a viewpoint on the effects of the evolution of regulation for the banking sector. Finally, the book assesses how the increase in the cost of funding and the shrinking in credit supply (credit crunch) has modified the financial structure of small and medium firms. To illustrate this, some specific cases at Italian regional level are examined.

This book presents original contributions assessing the effects the 2008 financial crisis has had on bank behaviour, regulation and credit access. After describing some of the economic aspects behind the outbreak and later developments in the recent financial turmoil, it examines the strategic responses of banks, firms and institutions, at both the macro and micro level. In this regard, the book discusses the extent to which policies implemented by governments and monetary authorities encouraged opportunistic behaviour and produced distorted incentives and market failures. Subsequently, it presents various viewpoints on how changes in bank regulations influenced bank lending, bank risk and bank funding sources. Lastly, the book evaluates the impact of the financial crisis on the cost of funding and the shrinking credit supply, examining specific cases at the regional level in Italy.