"Under the traditional "competition-fragility" view, more bank competition erodes market power, decreases profit … margins, and results in reduced franchise value that encourages bank risk taking. Under the alternative "competition …-stability" view, more market power in the loan market may result in greater bank risk as the higher interest rates charged to loan …

"The relationships among competition in the financial sector, access of firms to external financing, and associated … economic growth are ambiguous in theory. Moreover, measuring competition in the financial sector can be complex. In this paper … Claessens and Laeven first estimate for 16 countries a measure of banking system competition based on industrial organization …