Banks and other intermediaries may help savers commit to investment plans that savers could not stick to if they held assets directly. We illustrate this commitment function using a version of the Diamond and Dybvig (<CitationRef CitationID="CR9">1983</CitationRef>) model where savers’ short-run liquidity needs are correlated with...</citationref>

<title>Abstract</title> Despite their increasing importance worldwide, community foundations remain rare in much of East Asia. This comparative analysis of three community-based foundations currently operating in Japan, China and South Korea seeks to understand the role they play and factors that promote or...

We investigate how integration of bank ownership across states has affected economic volatility within states. In theory, bank integration could cause higher or lower volatility, depending on whether credit supply or credit demand shocks predominate. In fact, year-to-year fluctuations in a...

VAR analysis on a measure of bank lending standards collected by the Federal Reserve reveals that shocks to lending standards are significantly correlated with innovations in commercial loans at banks and in real output. Credit standards strongly dominate loan rates in explaining variation in...

Using variation in payday lending restrictions over time and across states, we study competition in the market for small, short-term consumer loans. We find that banks and credit unions reduce overdraft credit limits and prices when payday credit, a possible substitute, is prohibited. These...