This paper reviews the cost-benefit analysis, or “regulatory impact analysis” (RIA), in US bank regulators’ risk-based capital (RBC) rule proposals. We review the principles of cost-benefit analysis and its application by US bank regulators. We provide a brief background on RBC rules and...

In this policy brief, we explain the fundamentals of risk-based capital (RBC) regulation and discuss some potential shortcomings of this system. We propose that the Fed end its use of RBC regulation and return to the use of simple capital ratios as measures of bank risk

Many economists, including former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, believe that the gold standard generates poor economic outcomes including output volatility, price instability, financial panics, the spread of recessions via the exchange rate, and speculation-induced collapse. These problems,...

This paper considers the effects of changing expectations under macroeconomic policies that rely on targeting nominal variables, such as NGDP targeting. These proposals, in line with a dynamic conception of the equation of exchange, argue that the monetary authority can achieve any dynamic...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has claimed that the Fed's bank bailouts during the 2008 financial crisis were consistent with Walter Bagehot's rules for a lender of last resort. This paper demonstrates Bernanke's claims to be mistaken. First, we outline Bagehot's doctrine for a classical...