This paper studies the impact of bank mergers on firm-bank lending relationships using information from individual loan contracts in Belgium. We analyze the effects of bank mergers on the probability of borrowers maintaining their lending relationships and on their ability to continue tapping...

This paper studies key markets (financial, labor, natural resource, and product) to assess how they are facilitating or constraining growth. First, we draw on the body of existing theoretical and empirical literature to discuss the links between markets and growth. Second, we present four...

This paper analyzes two interrelated aspects of banking crises: the choices that banks make between actively pursuing satisfaction of their claims in default versus passively rolling over loans; and choices by regulators to "punish" passive and insolvent banks versus rescuing them. Because a...

This paper examines the power of different contractual mechanisms to influence an originator’s choice of costly effort to screen borrowers when the originator plans to securitise its loans. The analysis focuses on three potential mechanisms: the originator holds a “vertical slice”, or...

Assessing the impacts of bank mergers on small firms requires separating borrowers with single versus multiple banking relationships and distinguishing the three alternatives of "staying," "dropping," and "switching" of relationships. Single-relationship borrowers who "switch" to another bank...