Are close, long-term relationships between borrowers and lenders feasible in an increasingly competitive financial marketplace? How do relationships that have developed between banks and firms change when firms gain access to alternative funding sources, especially public securities markets? Can...

Mitchell Berlin raises the question "Should Business Bankruptcy Be a One-Chapter Book?" The answer, in part, depends on the answers to other questions: What makes more economic sense? A bankruptcy system that auctions a firm's assets and distributes the proceeds among the creditors? Or one that...

Trade credit remains the single largest source of short-term business credit in the United States and other nations around the world. Why do production firms act as financial intermediaries - a role usually reserved for banks? In "Trade Credit: Why Do Production Firms Act as Financial...

On September 22-23, 2011, the Research Department and the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia held their sixth joint conference to present and discuss the latest research on consumer credit and payments. Eighty-four participants attended the conference, which...

In traditional banking arrangements, households hold their savings in the form of deposits at the bank, which makes loans to both firms and households and holds these loans to maturity. But in the United States, and to a lesser extent in other developed countries, markets have increasingly taken...

On September 20-21, 2007, the Research Department and the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia held their fourth joint conference to present and discuss the latest research on consumer credit payments. Approximately 75 participants attended the conference, which...

Although many people know the term venture capital, not many people know precisely what role venture capitalists play in the economy. How do they identify entrepreneurs with promising new ideas? What kinds of services do they provide to these entrepreneurs? Mitchell Berlin answers these and...

Banks' lending standards at times seem too stringent and at other times too lax. The pattern seems to indicate that banks lend more easily in good times but tighten credit standards in lean times. But such a lending pattern may also be attributable to changes in borrowers' default risk over the...

Banks in the United States are forbidden to hold stock in nonfinancial firms under most circumstances. The same is not true of banks in other countries. But are U.S. banks really shackled compared with their foreign counterparts? Do such restrictions make a difference in banks' behavior?...

The author discusses three broad approaches to vertical integration. He then uses each approach, in turn, to examine the pros and cons of a firm's decision to integrate forward.