Conventional discussions of balance sheet management by nonfinancial firms take the set of positive net present value (NPV) projects as given, which in turn determines the size of the firm's assets. The focus is on the composition of equity and debt in funding such assets. In contrast, the...

Using quarterly data of U.S. commercial banks, we investigate the impact of market liquidity shortages on banks' capitalization and balance sheet adjustments. Our findings reveal that an acute liquidity shortage leads small U.S. commercial banks, but not large ones, to positively adjust their...