Today’s regulatory rules, especially the easily-manipulated measures of regulatory capital, have led to costly bank … failures. We design a robust regulatory system such that (i) bank losses are credibly borne by the private sector (ii …) systemically important institutions cannot collapse suddenly; (iii) bank investment is counter-cyclical; and (iv) regulatory …

creating counter-cyclical incentives for banks to raise capital, and so encourage bank lending in bad times. They avoid the …

short-run; leverage requirements reduce default risk but may significantly reduce bank value; mispriced deposit insurance …

behavior. By paying out dividends, a bank transfers value to its shareholders away from creditors, among whom are other banks …. This way, one bank's dividend payout policy affects the equity value and risk of default of other banks. When such negative … externalities are strong and bank franchise values are not too low, the private equilibrium can feature excess dividends relative to …

We study the effects of a bank’s engagement in trading. Traditional banking is relationship-based: not scalable, long …-based: scalable, short-term, capital constrained, and with the ability to generate risk from concentrated positions. When a bank … inefficiencies. A bank may allocate too much capital to trading ex-post, compromising the incentives to build relationships ex …

privately-optimal level of bank leverage is neither too low nor too high: It efficiently balances the market discipline that … of leverage. However, when correlated bank failures can impose significant social costs, regulators may bail out bank … this also compromises market discipline by making bank debt too safe. Optimal capital regulation requires that a part of …

across banks. In particular, by paying out dividends, a bank transfers value to its shareholders away from its creditors, who … in turn are other banks. This way, one bank's dividend payout policy aects the equity value and risk of default of otther … banks. When such negative externalities are strong and bank franchise values are not too low, the private equilibrium can …

-funded capital injections. However, on closer inspection the composition of bank capital shifted radically from one based on common …