In response to banking crises in the 1980s, Congress passed two laws that expanded enforcement powers of financial institution supervisors, including the Federal Reserve. At the time, some observers warned that these new powers would be misused. A careful analysis of enforcement actions taken...

This article finds that, although the number of failed banks declined sharply after the passage of the FDIC Improvement Act (FDICIA) in 1991, losses to the FDIC as a percent of assets of failed banks actually increased. Only if adjustments are made both for large losses at a few larger outlier...

The prompt corrective action provisions in FDICIA 1991 provide the supervisors with an unambiguous goal: "to resolve the problems of insured depository institutions at the least possible long-term cost to the deposit insurance fund." Yet performance of the regulators in achieving this goal has...

The prompt corrective action provisions in FDICIA 1991 provide the supervisors with an unambiguous goal: "to resolve the problems of insured depository institutions at the least possible long-term cost to the deposit insurance fund." Yet performance of the regulators in achieving this goal has...