I exploit the price differential of credit default swap (CDS) contracts written on debts with different levels of seniority to measure the implicit government guarantees enjoyed by European financial institutions from 2005 to 2013. I determine that the aggregate guarantee increased substantially...

Using a unique dataset of detailed portfolio holdings of US money market funds, we study the funds' behavior in the context of the European sovereign debt crisis. These important players in the shadow banking sector were particularly vulnerable to liquidity shocks before the introduction of...

We investigate the impact of deregulation-induced banking competition on corporate credit risk. Although banking competition does not, on average, affect corporate bankruptcy rates, we find that it causes corporate bankruptcies to increase significantly for high-leverage firms. This effect lasts...