Liquidity, Interest Rates and Banking

Liquidity refers to the degree to which an asset or security can be bought or sold in the market without affecting the asset's price. This book provides important evidence on the changes in market liquidity following the transition to electronic trading, and highlights quite different evidence from that presented in previous studies. Liquidity is also examined across different types of markets by using execution costs as a proxy for liquidity. The links between the concept of liquidity and the role of payment systems in a globalized financial system is investigated as well. Furthermore, a survey of both the theoretical and empirical literature related to the liquidity effect as well as a survey on the ability of the term spread to predict changes in economic activity is examined. The behaviour of long-term interest rates using time-series models is looked as well. Finally, the financial risk in life annuity and pension annuity as influenced by interest rate movements is discussed.