Teaching

This course covers the applied side of banking, with a particular focus on its political economy—a relatively new and growing field. The political-economy approach to banking examines how political institutions and the distribution of political power shape the development and functioning of the banking sector, and vice versa. Recent research has advanced in many directions and has, for instance, deepened our understanding of banking sector development, bank behavior, the emergence of financial crises, and the links between finance and liberal democracy. The course develops these themes through five modules: (i) countries’ financial structure, (ii) bank lending, (iii) financial crises, (iv) central bank independence, and (v) the rise of populism.

In addition to discussing key papers in the field, the course places major emphasis on research design and empirical methodology. The goal is to develop a sense of “how to do good empirical research.”