This paper analyzes the relation between the quality of the legal enforcement of loan contracts and the allocation of credit to households, both theoretically and empirically.

Bank supervisors have long recognized two types of shortcomingsin the Basle Accord’s risk-based capital (RBC)framework. First, the regulatory measures of “capital” maynot represent a bank’s true capacity to absorb unexpectedlosses. Deficiencies in reported loan loss reserves, forexample,...

Liberalization and deregulation have recently accelerated.It is therefore useful to keep risk within a certain level inrelation to capital, considering that financial institutionsmust control their risk appropriately to maintain thesafety and soundness of their operation. In 1988, the...