We present evidence that shared codes, religious beliefs, ethnicity - cultural proximity - between lenders and borrowers improves the efficiency of credit allocation. We identify in-group preferential treatment using dyadic data on the religion and caste of bank officers and borrowers from a...

We present evidence that shared codes, religious beliefs, ethnicity - cultural proximity - between lenders and borrowers improves the efficiency of credit allocation. We identify in-group preferential treatment using dyadic data on the religion and caste of bank officers and borrowers from a...

Over the past decade, the Single Supervisory Mechanism focused on making banks safer, resulting in stronger banks but limited euro area cross-border integration. We argue that overbanking hinders both cross-border integration for the EU and the development and integration of capital markets. In...