Contagion-induced bank runs are widely viewed as the cause of widespread bank failures during the Great Depression. Federal deposit insurance was created in 1934 to prevent future contagion-generated bank failures. Yet the cycle of bank failures appears quite similar to an industrial shakeout, a...

Following the financial crisis of 2007-08, capital requirements were revised along a number of important dimensions with the intent of shoring up the banking system and reducing the likelihood of another crisis. Changes included new measures of capital and increased minimum requirements, with...