art I: The benefits of free financial markets -- Does finance benefit only the rich? -- Shylock transformed -- The financial revolution and individual economic freedom -- The dark side of finance -- The bottom line on financial development -- Part II: When do financial markets emerge? -- The...

While a major overhaul of U.S. financial regulation may be unlikely during the early months of the Trump administration, changes should be expected as his nominees to lead the Treasury Department and financial regulatory agencies are confirmed. This will be the biggest turnover in regulatory...

We analyze the effect of the geographic expansion of banks across U.S. states on the co-movement of economic activity between states. Exploiting the removal of interstate banking restrictions to construct time-varying instrumental variables at the state-pair level, we find that bilateral banking...