This paper uses an unbanked industry to study the impact of government certification on financial access and growth. Marijuana is considered illegal by the Federal law resulting in high financial access costs. I exploit a unique experiment by Washington State that significantly lowered such...

Uncertainty about a possible harm is obviously relevant in deciding how much to regulate. More surprisingly, however, risks that are completely unrelated to the subject of the regulation can also be important. In particular, uncertainties about the future trajectory and distribution of economic...