The literature is divided on the expected effects of increased competition and consolidation in the financial sector on the supply of credit to relationship borrowers. This paper tests whether policy changes fostering competition and consolidation in U.S. banking helped or harmed entrepreneurs....

Recent papers have argued that both competition and consolidation may reduce small- and new-business lending; competition by weakening incentives to collect private information, and consolidation by destroying existing relationships and marginalizing small banks. This paper uses state-level...

The literature is divided on the expected effects of increased competition and consolidation in the financial sector on the supply of credit to relationship borrowers. This paper tests whether policy changes fostering competition and consolidation in U.S. banking helped or harmed entrepreneurs....

In 1996, Congress passed the Interstate Banking andBranching Efficiency Act, which allowed banks to branch across state lines andto purchase banks in any state.This act contributed to an increase inexpansion-seeking banks.The focus here is on the ways in which thesestructural changes in banking...

"I consider banks' role in providing funding liquidity (the ability to raise cash on demand) and market liquidity (the ability to trade assets at low cost), and how these roles have evolved. Traditional banks made illiquid loans funded with liquid deposits, thus producing funding liquidity on...