While it is recognized that the high degree of leverage used by financial institutions creates systemic risks and other negative externalities, many argue that equity financing is “expensive,” and that increased capital requirements will increase the cost of credit. Public subsidies of debt...

House-purchasing decisions and the possibility of existing homeowners to tap into their housing equity depend decisively on prevailing loan-to-value (LTV) ratios in mortgage markets with borrowing constrained households. Utilizing a smooth transition local projection (STLP) approach, I show that...

Introduction : our message and methods -- What is the problem? -- Why protection is costly -- How pervasive is TBTF? -- Why protect TBTF creditors? -- The growth of TBTF protection -- Testing our thesis : the cases of not too big to fail -- Can the problem be addressed? -- Creating the necessary...