The current financial crisis has highlighted the growing importance of the 'shadow banking system,' which grew out of the securitization of assets and the integration of banking with capital market developments. This trend has been most pronounced in the United States, but it has had a profound...

I analyze the impact of raising capital requirements on the quantity, composition, and riskiness of aggregate investment in a model in which firms borrow from both bank and non-bank lenders. The bank funds loans with insured deposits and costly equity, monitors borrowers, and must maintain a...

I characterize the optimal financial regulation policy in an economy where financial intermediaries trade capital assets on behalf of households, but must retain an equity stake to align incentives. Financial regulation is necessary because intermediaries cannot be excluded from privately...

We propose a simple model to study the efficiency of private liquidity creation by financial intermediaries. Liquidity is provided by both safe and risky debt, and liquidity crises arise when risky debt is defaulted on and stops providing liquidity services. Because of a novel externality...

This paper examines how the monetary transmission mechanism is affected by changes in the pattern of financial intermediation in the Philippines. By estimating the nature of monetary policy pass-through and the influence of monetary policy changes on outstanding bank credit, this study finds...

Even when securitised assets are simple, transparent and of high quality, risk assessments will be uncertain. This will call for safeguards against potential undercapitalisation. Since the uncertainty concentrates mainly in securitisation tranches of intermediate seniority, the safeguards...

Despite the progress made on the empirical front, normative analyses are still lacking when it comes to foreign currency intermediation (partial dollarization of the domestic banking system) and the ways to address its systemic risks implications. In this paper, we make a comprehensive analysis...

Does an unregulated financial system absorb too many productive inputs? This paper studies this question in the context of a dynamic model with heterogeneous producers. In the absence of a financial system, the only way to purchase inputs is using internal funds. Producers are subject to...