The purpose of the "counter-cyclical capital buffer" (buffer) is to dampen procyclicality in the financial system, absorb capital losses and prevent a credit crunch during recessions. In this paper, a stylized analytical expression for optimal buffer policy is presented. Results are derived...

This paper studies how financial intermediation varies across banks. Bank size is a first-order determinant of banks' capital structure in the cross-section. Largest banks have the lowest capital-to-asset ratio and the lowest ratio of Tier-1 capital against risk-weighted assets. These large...

We explore how large and small banks make funding decisions when the government provides system-wide bailouts to the financial sector. We show that bank size, purely on strategic grounds, is a key determinant of banks' leverage choices, even when bailout policies treat large and small banks...

We evaluate changes in investment bank balance sheets during financial crises to determine how these firms respond to funding shocks. Most investment banks maintain funding levels during these downturns, suggesting that liquidity shocks are not a trigger for their financial troubles. Among the...

The present paper examines the impact of the current fiscal crisis in the euro area on the Greek banking system and the institutional, regulatory and supervisory measures adopted to preserve its stability. It is divided into 2 Sections:(a) Section 1 deals with the differentiated impact of the...

This paper analyzes the effects of government bailouts in a modified Diamond-Dybvig model. Following Keister (2010), my model includes both a private good and a public good. Bailouts are assumed to crowd out pub- lic good provision and improve the ex-post allocation of resources during a bank...

The present study examines the impact of the current fiscal crisis in the euro area on the Greek banking system and the measures adopted to preserve its stability. It is divided into 3 Sections:(a) Section 1 contains an overview of the causes of the recent (2007-2009) international financial...

Should policy makers be prevented from bailing out investors in the event of a crisis? I study this question in a model of financial intermediation with limited commitment. When a crisis occurs, the efficient policy response is to use public resources to augment the private consumption of those...

There is a longstanding debate about whether banking panics and other financial crises always have fundamental causes or are sometimes the result of self-fulfilling beliefs. Disagreement on this point would seem to present a serious obstacle to designing policies that promote financial...

We investigate two competing explanations for commercial bank distress during financial crises: liquidity shortages and solvency concerns. If liquidity shortages cause distress, a lender of last resort can help by providing funds to banks having trouble rolling over short-term debt and facing...