The Federal Reserve requires U.S. commercial banks andother depository institutions to hold a minimum level ofreserves in proportion to certain liabilities. On occasion, thecentral bank has reduced reserve requirements—such as in1990, when requirements on large time deposits were dropped,and...

In moral hazard models, bank shareholders have incentives to transfer wealth from the deposit insurer - that is, maximize put option value - by pursuing riskier strategies. For safe banks with large charter value, however, the risk-taking incentive is outweighed by the possibility of losing...

This paper looks at the role of both commercial and investment banks in providing merger advisory services. In this area, unlike some areas of investment banking, commercial banks have always been allowed to compete directly with investment banks. In their dual role as lenders and advisors to...

[...]We focus here on three types of capital ratios—riskweighted,leverage, and gross revenue ratios. For each ratio, weexamine what makes it actually or potentially useful for bankregulation and we ask whether it is indeed significantly relatedto subsequent bank failure. Perhaps not...

[...]Our analysis of how U.S. financial market structure haschanged over the last decade produces more definitiveconclusions. Using firm-level data from a variety of sources, including data collected by central banks, we document that inaggregate, most U.S. wholesale credit and capital markets...