This study examines whether state-owned banks face political pressure and whether the improvement in political institutions alleviates this pressure. The theory of political benefits argues that politicians use state-owned banks for political purposes such as obtaining and maintaining political...

This study examines the association between political connectiveness in the banking sector and the aggregate profitability of the sector. Evidence from an international sample of 59 countries points towards a positive effect. This finding holds while controlling for a variety of country-level...

We use the 2020 Small Business Credit Survey to study the sources of racial disparities in use of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Black-owned firms are 8.9 percentage points less likely than observably similar white-owned firms to receive PPP loans. About 55 percent of this take-up...

We use the 2020 Small Business Credit Survey to study the sources of racial disparities in use of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Black-owned firms are 8.9 percentage points less likely than observably similar white-owned firms to receive PPP loans. About 55 percent of this take-up...

In 1865, the first minority bank in the United States was established. Over time, banks owned or controlled by minorities have grown in number. Yet, one hundred and fifty years later, they still account for only 2.8 percent of all banks. The contribution of this paper is fourfold. First, it...

Does the banking structure of a local economy matter for local economic outcomes? Using a discontinuity in the application of bank antitrust rules, I inspect how changes in bank concentration impacts local labor market outcomes. A rise in county-level deposit-HHI of 142 points leads to a rise in...

This paper studies the impact of female executives on risk-taking using US bank panel data from 2002 to 2010. It provides evidence that female executives reduce risk-taking in banks, but the risk-reduction becomes less effective during crisis years. We also find that a more balanced gender ratio...

This paper studies the impact of female executives on the performance and risk taking of US banks. With a sample of US banks from 2002 to 2010, we find that the inclusion of female executives increases bank performance after addressing endogeneity and reverse causality issues. We also provide...

This paper compares the loans granted to male and female entrepreneurs by a French microfinance institution (MFI). The sample period is split in two: before and after the MFI implemented France's regulatory EUR 10,000 loan ceiling. In the first period, the MFI does not co-finance projects with...