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'Too big to fail' traditionally refers to a bank that is perceived to generate unacceptable risk to the banking system and indirectly to the economy as a whole if it [...]

Abstract This paper investigates the geographic distribution of payday lenders and banks that operate throughout the United States. State-level data are used to indicate differences in the regulatory environment across [...]

The recent crisis has underlined the importance of the interaction of financial innovations and the housing market. We consider five major innovations relevant to housing finance. These are (i) mortgages; [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2008.04.003 Byline: James R. Barth (a), Chen Lin (b), Ping Lin (c), Frank M. Song (d) Keywords: Competition; Information sharing; Bank lending; Corruption Abstract: Building on the important study by Beck, Demirguc-Kunt, and Levine [2006. Bank supervision and corruption in lending. Journal of Monetary Economics 53, 2131-2163], we examine the effects of both borrower and lender competition as well as information sharing via credit bureaus/registries on corruption in bank lending. Using the unique World Bank data set (WBES) covering more than 4,000 firms across 56 countries with information on credit bureaus/registries, assembled by Djankov, McLiesh, and Shleifer [2007. Private credit in 129 countries. Journal of Financial Economics 84, 299-329], and bank regulation data collected by Barth, Caprio, and Levine [2006. Rethinking Bank Regulation: Till Angels Govern. Cambridge University Press, New York] to measure bank competition and information sharing, we find strong evidence that both banking competition and information sharing reduce lending corruption, and that information sharing also helps enhance the positive effect of competition in curtailing lending corruption. We also find that the ownership structure of firms and banks, legal environment, and firm competition all exert significant impacts on lending corruption. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Finance, Auburn University and Milken Institute, USA (b) Department of Economics and Finance, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (c) Department of Economics, Lingnan University, Hong Kong (d) School of Economics and Finance, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Article History: Received 8 November 2007; Revised 18 March 2008; Accepted 1 April 2008 Article Note: (footnote) [star] We thank the editor, William Schwert, an anonymous referee, Paul Evans, Belton Fleisher, Edward Green, Ross Levine, Thomas Ross, Wing Suen, Cheng Wang, Yijiang Wang, Keith Wong, Colin Xu, Ruilin Zhou, and participants in the Fourth Summer Workshop on Industrial Organization and Management Strategy at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and the Economics and Finance Workshop at The University of Hong Kong for helpful comments and suggestions. Frank Song thanks Guanghua School of Management, Peking University for support during his sabbatical leave.

This paper presents new and official survey information on bank regulations in 142 countries and makes comparisons with two earlier surveys. The data do not suggest that countries have primarily reformed their bank regulations for the better over the last decade. Following Basel guidelines many countries strengthened capital regulations and official supervisory agencies, but existing evidence suggests that these reforms will not improve bank stability or efficiency. While some countries have empowered private monitoring of banks, consistent with the third pillar of Basel II, there are many exceptions and reversals along this dimension. doi:10.1057/ces.2008.33 Keywords: financial institutions, government policy, scope of government JEL Classifications: G38, G21, L51, H11, INTRODUCTION Is the bank-regulatory environment in countries improving and making financial systems more efficient and stable? A decade after the East Asian crisis and the ever-growing importance of developing-country-banking systems, [...]

Initial stockholders of federally insured thrift institutions that convert from mutual-to-stock structure are projected to earn windfall income from inevitable price appreciation. However, these gains have been questioned because taxpayers receive nothing from the transactions. Thus, Congress is being pushed to establish and maintain a moratorium on all conversions while gain equity is examined.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze both theoretically and empirically the effect of selected government regulations on a high-risk personal loan market. Unlike previous studies, which have generally relied on a loosely specified theory and then tested this theory with statewide aggregate data, our analysis is based on a more tightly specified model for individual loans which is then tested using statewide disaggregated data. The empirical results indicate that the regulatory effects are not only significant but consistent with our theoretical microeconomic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors examine the effects of money, debt, and government spending on the real interest rate. Unlike previous studies, they examine simultaneous effects of these policy variables on the interest rate and employ a theoretical model that includes the ex post rather than ex ante real rate. The empirical results are generally favorable to the view that the distinction between anticipated or permanent monetary and fiscal policies and unanticipated or temporary ones is important. Moreover, only the latter consistently generate real interest rate effects. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.), Evidence on the Real Interest Rate Effects of Money, Debt, and Government Spending There is considerable controvery over the most appropriate way to model the relationships among macroeconomic variables. Depending [...]

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which was enacted on Nov 12, 1999, allows single holding firms to offer securities, banking and insurance. This legislation generally prevents state legislators from preventing banking firms from being involved in any of the financial activities allowed by the act.

The article presents information on seasonal variation on interest rates. A survey of the empirical work involving interest rates indicates an almost universal use of seasonally unadjusted rates, apparently due to a conviction that seasonal factors are not important in interest rates. The purpose of this article is to provide additional information regarding seasonality in interest rates. Unlike earlier studies, both daily and monthly data are analyzed. And, ordinary least squares techniques with seasonal dummies are employed here. Using this technique, it was found that, in contrast to the findings reported by other investigators, no evidence of a significant seasonal component in monthly rates. Seasonality is, however, present in the daily rate. In section 2, the magnitude and the importance of seasonality in three interest rates are assessed. Section 3 contains a discussion of seasonal variation in a short-term rate employing daily as opposed to monthly data. The assertion that a seasonal component exists in monthly observations on interest rates has important economic and econometric implications. The findings, in sharp contrast to earlier findings, indicate that there is no systematic month-to-month pattern in interest rates when monthly observations are employed. A seasonal model was also fitted to daily observations on the 90-day Treasury bill rate. All seasonal coefficients were significant and, though the coefficient of determination was quite small, the regression was significant.

Focuses on thrift deregulation and federal deposit insurance in the United States. Discussion on federal insurance funds; Acceptance of the effectivity of strict regulations by the Congress; Characterization of thrift performance of institutions.

Presents an introduction to the June 1992 issue of the "Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics."

While interest rate ceilings have been an object of considerable academic inquiry, the economic effects of restricting creditor remedies (CR) in the U.S. have been generally neglected. This paper examines the theoretical role of CR in the credit transaction and then presents a detailed empirical analysis of the effect of restricting CR on credit supply and demand. The term creditor remedies refers to a number of different arrangements that facilitate the collection of interest and principal on loans that are in default.

Focuses on the use of astronomics in economic studies. Relationship between positions of celestial bodies and human behavior; Predictive ability of the substantive content of astrology; Impact of celestial concepts on economic theories.