This paper examines the impact of bank concentrationon bank financial distress using a balanced panel of commercial banks in the EU‐25 over a sample period running from 2003 to 2007. Financial distress is proxied by the observations falling below a given threshold of the empirical distribution...

We collect data on a number of financial restraints, including restrictions on interest rates and capital flows and reserve and liquidity requirements, and capital adequacy requirements from central banks of 14 countries. We estimate the effects of these policies on the aggregate productivity of...