FRANKLIN ALLEN DOUGLAS GALE Competition and Financial Stability

Competition and Financial Stability1

Competition policy in the banking sector is complicated by the necessity of maintaining financial stability. Greater competition may be good for (static) efficiency, but bad for financial stability. From the point of view of welfare economics, the relevant question is: What are the efficient levels of competition and financial stability? We use a variety of models to address this question and f...

Competition and Financial Stability

Competition in the Þnancial sector is more complex than in the rest of the economy. On the one hand, concentration in the banking industry reduces (static) efficiency as it does in any industry. On the other hand, concentration may also affect the stability of the banking industry in ways that have no counterpart in other industries. In this paper we consider a variety of models of competition ...

Comparative Financial Systems: A Survey

Bubbles and Crises

In recent ®nancial crises a bubble, in which asset prices rise, is followed by a collapse and widespread default. Bubbles are caused by agency relationships in the banking sector. Investors use money borrowed from banks to invest in risky assets, which are relatively attractive because investors can avoid losses in low payoff states by defaulting on the loan. This risk shifting leads investors ...

Diversity of Opinion and Financing of New Technologies

The objective of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of financial markets and financial intermediaries in financing new industries and technologies in the presence of diversity of opinion. In markets, investors become informed about the details of the new industry or technology and make their own investment decisions. In intermediaries, the investment decision is delegated to a manager, ...