In this paper and the associated online database, we provide new data and measures of bank regulatory and supervisory policies in 180 countries from 1999 to 2011. The data include and the measures are based upon responses to hundreds of questions, including information on permissible bank...

Introduction -- Regulating finance is hard to do -- Incentives run amok -- How U.S. regulators encouraged the financial crisis -- American crisis? Ain't necessarily so -- Been down this road many times before -- More of the same: post 2007-2009 financial crisis regulation -- Making the guardians...

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...

Those who believe stricter restrictions on allowable bank activities will limit risk-taking behavior may be surprised to learn that in countries where bank activities are restricted, the likelihood of a banking crisis may be greater.Costly bank failures in the past two decades have focused...