In light of the current debate about the link between accounting and financial stability, we investigate the determinants of procyclical book leverage for US commercial and savings banks. We find that total asset growth and GDP growth are both positively related to book leverage growth. Our...

In light of the current debate about the link between accounting and financial stability, we investigate the determinants of procyclical book leverage for U.S. commercial and savings banks. We find that total asset growth and GDP growth are both positively related to book leverage growth. Our...

The recent financial crisis has led to a major debate about fair-value accounting. Many critics have argued that fair-value accounting, often also called mark-to-market accounting, has significantly contributed to the financial crisis or, at least, exacerbated its severity. In this paper, we...