This paper explains why crises follow periods of sustained banking profitability in an environment in which there is uncertainty about whether outcomes depend on the risk management skills of banks, or are just based on luck, in the spirit of Piketty's Model (1995) of “left-wing” and...

In this paper I develop a model of a competitive financial system with unrestricted but costly entry and an endogenously determined number of competing financial institutions (“banks” for short). Banks can make standard loans on which plentiful historical data are available and unanimous...

In this paper I develop a model of a competitive financial system with unrestricted but costly entry and an endogenously‐determined number of competing financial institutions (“banks” for short). Banks can either make standard loans on which plentiful historical data are available and...

This paper briefly reviews papers presented at a JFI-Washington University Conference on the post-crisis evolution of banks and financial markets that are appearing in a special issue of the JFI. The major themes represented by the papers in this issue have significantly advanced our...