Introduction

Abstract

This book investigates different aspects of the financial system, starting from the relationship between firms and banks to conclude with relatively new financial instruments, with a focus on emerging markets as well. In particular, the book analyses small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) access to credit, the earning quality and the cost of debt in the European Union. Moreover, it investigates an important risk measure in financial markets : credit default swaps (CDS), before going deep inside one of the most important emerging markets, China , to assess monetary policy and the relationship between financial institutions and real estate firms .