Summary of Quarterly Bulletin
May 1994

Research work published by the Bank is intended to contribute to debate, and is not necessarily a statement of Bank policy.

Asset-backed securitisation in the United Kingdom (59k)
(by Ian Twinn of the Bank's Economics Division)
examines the factors behind the growth in the UK asset-backed securities market since the first issue in 1985. It analyses the incentives for issuers and investors to participate, and outlines the mechanics of securitisation and the regulatory framework that influences the market. It also considers the advantages of asset-backed securities, and their risks.

Personal and corporate sector debt (106k)
(by Jennifer Smith and Gabriel Sterne of Economics Division, and Michael Devereux)
analyses the influence of debt on the behaviour of firms and households in the recent recession. As well as comparing their levels of debt, it looks at each sector in detail. By supplementing the available sectoral information with an analysis of disaggregated data, it seeks to develop a more accurate picture of the influence of debt on consumer and corporate behaviour.

Inflation over 300 years (351k)
(by Helen MacFarlane and Paul Mortimer-Lee of Economics Division)
looks back over the period since the Bank's foundation, and offers some reflections on the history of inflation-and on how thinking about inflation has developed-since 1694.