The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), established by the Dodd-Frank Act, has the extraordinary authority to designate financial firms as systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs). Firms so designated are then turned over to the Fed for “stringent” regulation. FSOC’s...

Small banks have an important role in financing economic activity through their financial services for small businesses. There has been a sharp decline in the number of small banking organizations in the U.S. since the early 1980s. A continuation of this trend would raise important issues about...

Financial literacy has assumed greater importance in our society as the result of the increasing complexity of financial products and the simultaneous cutting of economic safety nets by government, employers and even parents who worry about their own retirements. If the problem isn’t solved...

This paper examines the design of a federal regulatory structure for insurance companies in the United States, assuming some form of an optional federal charter is adopted. Any design must take account of the objectives of insurance regulation, the convergence of financial service powers among...

The paper looks at the changes in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation assessment process since the passage of the Dodd-Frank legislation. It outlines some of the changes made to the insurance premium rates as well as the calculation of the deposit assessment base, and examines how the...

This paper is based on remarks prepared for the Indiana University Business Conference sponsored by the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, March 8, 2006, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

A dozen years ago, Randall Kroszner, soon to be one of George W. Bush’s economic advisors and a Governor of the Federal Reserve, could comment in a Levy Institute seminar, without fear of contradiction, that there was no evidence to back the "public interest rationale" for the separation of...

This paper examines (1) the change in commercial banks’ risk taking as states in the United States removed restrictions on bank branching within state borders and (2) the channels through which the removal of these restrictions affect bank risk taking. I find that, after the liberalization of...

A variety of consumer credit products have particular notoriety because of their high prices. The products include some small personal loans, pawnbroker loans, payday loans, automobile title loans, and refund anticipation loans. Critics of these credit products see little or no benefit to using...

In the U.S., women tend to have lower levels of financial literacy than men. This is consistent with a household division of labor in which men manage finances. However, women also tend to outlive their husbands, so they will eventually need to take over this task. Using a new survey of older...