The first-order effects of relaxed bank entry restrictions have been favorable, both within the U.S. and across countries. Internationally, the benefits of foreign entry seem to depend on the level of development, but at least for developing nations entrants are more efficient than incumbent...

We investigate how bank migration across state lines over the last quarter century has affected the size and covariance of business fluctuations within states. Starting with a two-state version of the unit banking model in Holmstrom and Triocole (1997), we conclude that the theoretical effect of...