This paper investigates the effectiveness of supervisory discipline on bank risk over the years immediately before, during and just after the recent crisis. It is the first study to consider the effects of informal supervisory enforcement actions in addition to formal actions. Informal...

Theories of bank contagion often highlight the idea that financial crises frequently start as local shocks and then spread to other financial institutions. Conditions in Helena, Montana at the onset of the Panic of 1893 present an ideal laboratory for testing these theories. We use a unique...