We develop a model of the joint capital structure decisions of banks and their borrowers. Strikingly high bank leverage … emerges naturally from the interplay between two sets of forces. First, seniority and diversification reduce bank asset … underlie our structural model, we can quantify the impact capital regulation and other government interventions have on bank …

-funded capital injections. However, on closer inspection the composition of bank capital shifted radically from one based on common …

behavior. By paying out dividends, a bank transfers value to its shareholders away from creditors, among whom are other banks …. This way, one bank's dividend payout policy affects the equity value and risk of default of other banks. When such negative … externalities are strong and bank franchise values are not too low, the private equilibrium can feature excess dividends relative to …