-financial firm and commercial bank before the crisis, but the picture was quite different for large commercial banks States and for … investment banks worldwide. We document the following patterns: a) there was an increase in leverage ratios of investment banks … and financial firms during the early 2000s; b) there was no visible increase for commercial banks and non-financial firms …

investment banks prior to the sub-prime crisis; b) there was no visible increase in leverage for the typical commercial bank and … non-financial firm; c) off-balance-sheet items constitute a big fraction of assets, especially for large commercial banks … in the US, whereas investment banks do not report these items; d) the leverage ratio is procyclical for investment banks …