Introduction

Abstract

The short note introduces the articles published in this issue, placing the different contributions in the current socio-economic context. The first two articles in particular concern a topic of great relevance to the well-functioning of a monetary production economy, namely banking regulations and especially the changes being currently introduced. Tonveronachi (2013) argues in favour of a significant de-globalization of banks and of their regulation and supervision, thus opposing the mainstream attitude supported by regulatory authorities. Masera (2013) provides a discussion of the enactment of the third Basel Capital Accord in the United States and in Europe, with the former placing greater emphasis on leverage requirements (versus risk-weighted capital requirements, which are kept simpler) and on a differentiation of the rules according to the size and complexity of the financial institutions concerned (versus the European one-size-fits-all attitude). 

JEL codes: A1, H12, H83