This paper examines the impact of charter type, holding company structure, and measures of bank fragility on the likelihood of a bank bailout or failure during the late 2000s financial crisis. The empirical results indicate that established institutions were more likely to fail if they were...

The 2008 financial crisis was the second instance since the Great Depression that many hundreds of financial institutions failed across the United States. The rescue staged by the federal government, however, was unprecedented in scale, involving an initial Congressional authorization of $700...

Dealer banks--that is, large banks that deal in securities and derivatives, such as J. P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs--are of a size and complexity that sharply distinguish them from typical commercial banks. When they fail, as we saw in the global financial crisis, they pose significant risks to...