This paper reviews the cost-benefit analysis, or "regulatory impact analysis" (RIA), in U.S. bank regulators' risk-based capital (RBC) rule proposals. We provide a brief background on RBC rules and review the literature on their costs and benefits. We evaluate 25 proposed RBC rules and related...

In this policy brief, we explain the fundamentals of risk-based capital (RBC) regulation and discuss some potential shortcomings of this system. We propose that the Fed end its use of RBC regulation and return to the use of simple capital ratios as measures of bank risk

We use the sensitivity of bank holding company equity returns to market interest rates as an indicator of perceived maturity mismatch. Based on data from 1990 to 2009, there is only weak evidence that market participants perceived banks to be effectively short-funded. However, looking at 1990 to...

In this policy brief we review the theoretical argument for government-provided deposit insurance and compare it to the actual costs observed under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the United States. Contrary to theoretical arguments, deposit insurance is not free in practice....

The Diamond–Dybvig model is often cited as a theoretical justification for government-provided deposit insurance. Guaranteeing bank deposits removes the temptation for individual depositors to run on the bank and thereby precludes the need to ever use the deposit insurance. Hence, deposit...

Economic projections by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) were highly inaccurate in the years during and after the Great Recession. Using a model of collective prediction that weighs the ``wisdom of crowds'' against shared biases, we analyze GDP forecast errors in a panel dataset of FOMC...

Review of Stephanie Kelton, The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy.The ideas of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) have gained popularity in certain political circles. While claiming to overturn well-known economic principles, MMT has never been formally laid...

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decisions rely on economic forecasts from the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) staff. This paper analyzes the forecasts of GDP growth, inflation, and unemployment by the FRB staff and the FOMC from 2009 through 2016. Forecasts for the current year are positively...