The global financial and economic crisis has struck Iceland with extreme force. Iceland’s three main banks, accounting for almost all of the banking system, failed in October 2008. They were unable to resist the deterioration in global financial markets following the failure of Lehman...

In this paper, we examine how the institutional design affects the outcome of bank bailout decisions. In the German savings bank sector, distress events can be resolved by local politicians or a state-level association. We show that decisions by local politicians with close links to the bank are...

In this paper, we examine how the institutional design affects the outcome of bank bailout decisions. In the German savings bank sector, distress events can be resolved by local politicians or a state-level association. We show that decisions by local politicians with close links to the bank are...

This article reflects on some of the banking crisis resolution measures taken by the Swedish and Norwegian governments during the Scandinavian banking crisis of the early 1990s. Much as in the U.S. in 2008, the Scandinavian crisis two decades ago was preceded by a broad relaxation of bank...

By adopting a difference-in-differences specification combined with propensity score matching, we provide evidence using the microdata of German banks that stateowned savings banks have lent less than credit cooperatives during the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, the weaker lending effects of...

By adopting a difference-in-differences specification combined with propensity score matching, I provide evidence using the microdata of German banks that stateowned savings banks have lent less than credit cooperatives during the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, the weaker lending effects of...

The rise of a crisis-prone banking sector and its political power has received significant attention following the most recent financial crisis. The crisis sparked a growing interest in understanding how and why we have created a world of large, unstable banks. Excessive banking activity arose...

The rise of a crisis-prone banking sector and its political power has received significant attention following the most recent financial crisis. The crisis sparked a growing interest in understanding how and why we have created a world of large, unstable banks. Excessive banking activity arose...

The bailouts of 2008–10 are the most recent in a long series of in-surance-like policies designed to limit the losses of those harmed by a crisis of some kind — but enacted after a crisis is under way. This paper analyzes the economics and politics of “crisis insurance” programs. The...

Washington's remedy to the financial problems that began in 2008 was the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) — the so called bailout of the banking system. Whatever its merits, it was, for the most part, unpopular with the American public. Lawmakers, fearful that the economy might actually...