This paper examines (1) the change in commercial banks’ risk taking as states in the United States removed restrictions on bank branching within state borders and (2) the channels through which the removal of these restrictions affect bank risk taking. I find that, after the liberalization of...

In the debate over the proposed establishment of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, much attention has been given to discussion of whether consumers are irrational or incompetent and therefore need paternalistic regulators to look after them, and whether inadequate consumer protection...

Officials must show that they understand why and how the public's confidence in the federal government's ability to manage financial turmoil was lost. Leaders of the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission must face up to their institutions' roles in an...

Since passage of the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the government has been explicitly and implicitly regulating the compensation of top managers at a number of U.S. banks. In addition, bank regulators have added evaluations of bank management compensation packages to the list of factors...

The history of regulation in America is as old as the republic itself. Since colonial times, Americans have struggled with the conflict between the desire for individual freedom and economic growth, and the need for rules and structure in a civil society. The evolution of the United States from...

We offer a novel explanation of underwriting volatility in propertyliability insurance markets in terms of private uncertainty over public regulatory policy. Underwriting involving random losses to policyholders is one source of risk to the equity value of insurance firms. Solvency regulations,...

This paper investigates the dynamic and the determinants of banking industry efficiency in Latin America. Allocative, technical, pure technical and scale efficiencies are calculated and analyzed in each country. We find that Latin American bank managers have been using resources efficiently, but...

This paper reviews what economists have learned about Internet banking. The paper begins by surveying evidence regarding the fundamental motivations for banks to offer services via the Internet and for their customers to utilize the services. It considers the experience of and future prospects...

This policy brief evaluates the banking and policy implications of 2006 Congressional legislation authorizing the Federal Reserve to pay interest on reserves held at Federal Reserve banks beginning in October 2011. This upcoming policy change has received remarkably little attention from the...

This paper examines consumer protection regulation in insurance markets and discusses how regulation could be made more efficient and robust. The paper argues that regulatory costs could be lowered and effectiveness enhanced by better targeting regulations to address market failures. Regulations...