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.

While financial firms keep searching for the secret formula to make profits out of providing multiple financial services under one roof, nonfinancial firms seem headed in the opposite direction. What can financial firms learn from the experience of diversified nonfinancial firms and those firms...

Mitchell Berlin discusses recent theories of how firms choose their debt maturity. Some of these theories are very useful for explaining how chief financial officers (CFOs) choose the maturity of their firms’ debt. However, CFOs seem to believe that they can predict future interest rates and...

A firm’s passage from borrowing from a single lender to using multiple lenders is often viewed as an inevitable progression in the life of a firm. While there is a strong element of truth in this view, it is also incomplete. The underlying economics of moving from one lender to many involves...

Mitchell Berlin examines disclosure requirements for banks. Can market participants play a significant role in ensuring that banks limit their risk-taking? Although regulators find this idea increasingly attractive, economists generally have two schools of thought: Such monitoring could...

In response to the financial crisis, stricter rules are being phased in for foreign banks operating on U.S. soil. Mitchell Berlin explains how global banking drives efficiency, how the new rules may impede that efficiency, and why the rules may nevertheless be necessary.