In this paper, we examine the relationship between banks’ approval for the internal ratings-based (IRB) approaches of Basel II and the ratio of risk-weighted assets to total assets. Analysing a panel of 115 banks from 21 OECD countries that were eventually approved for applying the IRB to...

This paper assesses the impact of introducing an efficient payment system on the amount of credit provided by the banking system. Using payment system reforms in Eastern European countries over the 1995–2005 period as a natural experiment, we find evidence that payments reforms were an...

We investigate the impact of bankruptcy codes on firms' capital-structure choices. We develop a theoretical model to identify how firm characteristics may interact with the bankruptcy code in determining optimal capital structures. A novel and sharp empirical implication emerges from this model:...