Standard banking theory suggests that there exists an optimal level of credit risk that yields maximum bank profit. We identify the optimal level of risk-weighted assets that maximizes banks’ returns in the full sample of US banks over the period 1996–2011. We find that this optimal level is...

This paper examines empirically the role of bank market power as an internal factor influencing banks’ reaction in terms of lending and risk-taking to monetary policy impulses. The analysis is carried out for the US and euro-area banking sectors over the period 1997-2010. Market power is...

The Fed’s actions before and after the housing bubble burst: discretion and mandate of central banks in an environment of financial deregulation The Fed’s actions during the development and burst of the US real estate bubble highlight a Central Bank’s dilemma when facing a financial...

We build a general equilibrium model to analyze how the ability of banks to create money can affect asset prices and financial stability. In the model, demand for liquidity takes the form of demand for money to make payments. We show that banks can provide elastic aggregate liquidity by creating...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of policy options in financial dynamics (of money, credit, efficiency and size) on consumer prices. Soaring food prices have marked the geopolitical landscape of African countries in the past decade. Design/methodology/approach –...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to relate the marginal crisis risk of Woodford to a number of financial fragility indicators. The paper expands the interest rate gap approach by considering the capital structure of investments and systemic risk, dating back to Modigliani-Miller. The...

Levels of interest rates below historical norms may have enhanced financial instability in both developed and in developing economies during the 2000´s. The risk-taking channel of monetary transmission policy is a recent theory that explains theinteraction between risk perceptions of the...

Based on the consolidated statements data of the universal/commercial banks (UKbank) and non-bank financial institutions with quasi-banking licenses, this paper presents a keen necessity of obtaining data in detail on both sides (assets and liabilities) of their financial conditions and further...

This paper investigates the effect that the creation of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has had on the interest rate risk which banks and life insurance companies face in the UK. By means of GARCH-M methodology, the stock returns are modelled on the CAPM and the Fama-French asset-pricing...