This article investigates the nexus of competition and stability in European banking. It analyzes the European legal framework for competition policy in banking and several cases that pertain to anti-cartel policy, merger policy, and state-aid control. It discusses whether and how competition...

This paper examines the relation between strategic alliances and non-financial firms’ bank loan financing. We construct several measures to capture firms’ alliance activities. The key finding is that borrowing firms with active alliance involvement experience lower cost of bank loans. The...

In this paper we provide evidence for the effects of social norms on audit pricing by studying companies belonging to the alcohol, firearms, gambling, military, nuclear power, and tobacco industries, which are often described as “sin” companies. We hypothesize that the disparities between...

In this paper we provide evidence for the effects of social norms on audit pricing by studying companies belonging to the alcohol, firearms, gambling, military, nuclear power, and tobacco industries, which are often described as “sin” companies. We hypothesize that the disparities between...

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the transparency of banks and the fragility of the banking system. We show that information-based bank runs may be inefficient because the deposit contract designed to provide liquidity induces depositors to have excessive incentives to...

China is reforming its banking system, partially privatizing and permitting minority foreign ownership of three of the dominant 'big four' state-owned banks. This paper seeks to help predict the effects of this change by analysing the efficiency of virtually all Chinese banks in the years...

This paper demonstrates that, even if depositors are fully rational and always choose the Pareto dominant equilibrium when there are multiple equilibria, a bank run may still occur when depositors' expectations of the bank's fundamentals do not change. More specifically, a bank run may occur...

China's economy has been growing rapidly based on globalization of trade, but the country is only beginning to globalize its banking sector. China's current banking reform includes partially privatizing three of its dominant Big Four state-owned banks and taking on minority foreign ownership of...

This paper analyses the determinants of banks' loan loss allowances for samples of US banks and three non-US samples: a group of 21 countries, Canada and Japan. The model includes fundamental (or non-discretionary) determinants of the allowance such as non-performing loans, and discretionary...

We study the effect of loan portfolio focus vs. diversification on the return and the risk of 105 Italian banks over the period 1993-1999 using data on bank-by-bank exposures to different industries and sectors. We find that diversification is not guaranteed to produce superior performance...