According to the classic studies by Thornton and Bagehot, the lender of last resort should provide emergency assistance directly to troubled banks, with the qualification that lending should be done at high rates, against good collateral, and only to solvent institutions. Some twenty years ago, an alternative to this “banking” view has emerged in particular through contributions by Goodfriend and King, Bordo, Kaufman, and Schwartz.
These contributions are sometimes usefully aggregated into the so-called “monetary” view, which says that once the financial system has obtained sufficient liquidity through an equitable open market operation, interbank markets for short-term credit should be sufficiently efficient to warrant the availability of liquidity for any bank that deserves it. The two opposing views on the management of financial distress have provoked a fruitful theoretical debate about the role and identity of the lender of last resort in contemporary banking regulation.
Home office furniture options vary from large to small, portable to permanent, lightweight to heavy duty and reliable to "you get what you pay for." Before you rush to furnish your new office or refurbish an existing one, consider a few questions.
Do You Want Or Need New Furniture?
Is your existing furniture fitting your needs? Do you have enough drawer space or filing space? If what you are using isn't necessarily stylish or appealing, yet functional, then stick with what you have until you absolutely can't stand it anymore. The main difference between wanting and needing furniture could mean the difference between upgrading your computer, fax or other equipment and having a nice looking office. Determine your priorities and needs, then decide if you need new furniture now or if you can postpone a furniture purchase for a while.
Venture capital is a form of intermediation particularly well suited to support the creation and growth of innovative, entrepreneurial companies (Hellmann and Puri (2000, 2002), Kortum and Lerner (2000)). It specializes in financing and nurturing companies at an early stage of development (’start-ups’) that operate in high-tech industries. For these companies the expertise of the venture capitalist, its knowledge of markets and of the entrepreneurial process, and its network of contacts are most useful to help unfold their growth potential (Bottazzi, Da Rin and Hellmann (2004), Gompers (1995), Hellmann and Puri (2002), Lerner (1994, 1995), and Lindsey (2003)). By contrast, when venture capital is applied to companies at a later stage of their growth, or in companies which operate in technologically mature industries, it has less of an opportunity to ’make a difference’ (Michelacci and Suarez (2004)). Economics thus points to the relevance of providing an adequate share of venture investments in high-tech and early stage companies.
The creation of ’active’ venture capital markets, i.e. venture capital markets which provide strong support for early stage and high-tech ventures has received a high priority by economic policy, which appreciates its importance for achieving continued economic growth and job creation ((Bottazzi and Da Rin (2002a), European Commission (2003), OECD (2001)). As economies become ever more dependent on innovation and entrepre neurship for achieving sustained growth (Bottazzi, Da Rin, and Giavazzi (2003), Nelson and Romer (1996), OECD (2001)), governments around the world have been trying to replicate the diffusion and success that venture capital has achieved in the United States (Megginson (2004)). These attempts absorb large sums of public money. Yet, we still know very little about what policies can help create active venture capital markets, and our study contributes a first step towards filling this gap.
