Using 1,584 listed banks from 65 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conduct the first broad-based international study examining the effect of the pandemic on bank systemic risk. We find the pandemic increases systemic risk across countries. The effect operates through government policy...

We examine the effects of geographic deregulation on banks' cost of equity (COE) using changes in interstate bank branching laws over the post–Riegle-Neal period (1994:Q4–2016:Q4). We find strong evidence that deregulation increases banks' COE. This is driven primarily by active acquirers,...

We examine the effects of competition on bank risk. We find strong evidence that interstate banking deregulation — which generally increases bank competition — is associated with lower bank risk and some evidence intrastate branching increases bank risk. Further, interstate banking reduces...

We examine the relation between state residual ownership and bank risk-taking for privatized banks from 45 countries. Applying propensity score matching, we find that privatized banks tend to exhibit higher levels of risk-taking post-privatization than their publicly listed non-privatized...