We identify a new source of bank consolidation in the United States. For decades, boththe financial and real sides of the economy have experienced considerable consolidation. Weshow that banking-sector consolidation is, in part, a consequence of real-sector consolidation;because small banks are...

Bank stability depends on information. Regulators can allow banks to release some information about their safety and soundness. This paper shows how dividend regulation and information interact to affect bank stability. In the model, wealth-expropriation, excess cash flow, and signaling...

We estimate differences in funding costs between the largest banks and the rest of the industry. Using deposit rates offered at the branch level, we eliminate many non-risk-related differences between banks. We document significant and persistent pricing advantages at the largest banks for...

If a lender can easily obtain more information about a borrower, under what conditions will he choose to do so? In this paper, I use a hand-collected set of records from the nineteenth century credit reporting agency, R.G. Dun & Company, that allows me to directly observe when lenders acquired...

This is part of a series of reports of consumer credit trends produced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau using a longitudinal sample of approximately five million de-identified credit records maintained by one of the three nationwide credit reporting companies. This report explores the...