Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and-and, in short, you are for ever floored (Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Chap. 12, p. 185 (1950). First published 1849-1850.). Abstract Attempts to define systemic risk are summarized and found to be deficient in

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... ious respects. This introductory chapter, after considering some of the salient features of financial crises in the past, focusses on the key characteristics of banks, their balance sheets and how they are regulated.