Why do some economic systems depend on bank financing while others rely on capital markets and bond financing? We propose a political economy model in which elites favor a bank-based system, which increases their rents due to reduced competition. If suffrage is restricted to the elite, this will...

This paper analyzes the competitive effects of the Basel II Standard Approach capital requirement regulation on an oligopolistic credit market. We define the general goal of the capital regulation to be the improvement of the banking system's soundness. As in the standard literature, we assume...

To reduce a negative externality, socially responsible households can invest responsibly (SRI), consume responsibly (SRC), or do both. Which is better? In a closed microeconomic model with intertwined product and capital markets, we analyze how responsible households should use SRI and SRC to...

We consider a standard banking model with agency frictions to simultaneously study the weakening and reversal of monetary transmission and banks' risk-taking in a low-interest environment. Both, weaker monetary transmission and higher risk-taking arise because lower policy rates impair banks'...

We consider a standard banking model with agency frictions to simultaneously studythe weakening and reversal of monetary transmission and banks' risk-taking in alow-interest environment. Both, weaker monetary transmission and higher risk-taking arise because lower policy rates impair banks' net...

Minimum capital requirement regulation forces banks to refund a substantial amount of their investments with equity. This creates a buffer against losses, but also in- creases the cost of funding. If higher refunding costs translate into higher loan interest rates, then borrowers are likely to...