IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v149y2018i1d10.1007_s10551-016-3133-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managerial Risk-Taking Behavior: A Too-Big-To-Fail Story

Author

Listed:
  • Asghar Zardkoohi

    (Texas A&M University)

  • Eugene Kang

    (Nanyang Technology University)

  • Donald Fraser

    (Texas A&M University)

  • Albert A. Cannella

    (Arizona State University)

Abstract

We examine the implications of the US government’s too-big-to-fail (TBTF) policy as it has been applied to banks. Using alternative measures of risk, we compare the risk-taking behavior of 11 TBTF banks, identified by the Comptroller of the Currency in 1984, to a number of non-TBTF banks. We provide both theory and new empirical evidence to support our argument that the TBTF policy leads management to significantly increase risk-taking, with no corresponding increase in performance. While prior studies have considered the effects of the TBTF policy on limited, but risk-related aspects of bank behavior, such as the cost of funds, our study provides direct evidence about the risk-taking behavior associated with the TBTF policy. Our study has important implications for the current political debate regarding the too-big-to-fail policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Asghar Zardkoohi & Eugene Kang & Donald Fraser & Albert A. Cannella, 2018. "Managerial Risk-Taking Behavior: A Too-Big-To-Fail Story," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 221-233, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:149:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3133-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3133-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-016-3133-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-016-3133-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George J. Benston & George G. Kaufman, 1998. "Deposit insurance reform in the FDIC Improvement Act: the experience to date," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 22(Q II), pages 2-20.
    2. Eugene Kang, 2006. "Investors’ Perceptions of Managerial Opportunism in Corporate Acquisitions: the moderating role of environmental conditions," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(5), pages 377-387, September.
    3. George A. Akerlof & Paul M. Romer, 1993. "Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 24(2), pages 1-74.
    4. Penas, Maria Fabiana & Unal, Haluk, 2004. "Gains in bank mergers: Evidence from the bond markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 149-179, October.
    5. Elijah Brewer & Julapa Jagtiani, 2013. "How Much Did Banks Pay to Become Too-Big-To-Fail and to Become Systemically Important?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 43(1), pages 1-35, February.
    6. Flannery, Mark J & Sorescu, Sorin M, 1996. "Evidence of Bank Market Discipline in Subordinated Debenture Yields: 1983-1991," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(4), pages 1347-1377, September.
    7. Anderson, Ronald C. & Fraser, Donald R., 2000. "Corporate control, bank risk taking, and the health of the banking industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(8), pages 1383-1398, August.
    8. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    9. Fields, L. Paige & Fraser, Donald R. & Wilkins, Michael S., 2004. "An investigation of the pricing of audit services for financial institutions," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 53-77.
    10. Cannella Jr., Albert A. & Fraser, Donald R. & Lee, D. Scott, 1995. "Firm failure and managerial labor markets Evidence from Texas banking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 185-210, June.
    11. William F. Sharpe, 1964. "Capital Asset Prices: A Theory Of Market Equilibrium Under Conditions Of Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 19(3), pages 425-442, September.
    12. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    13. O'Hara, Maureen & Shaw, Wayne, 1990. "Deposit Insurance and Wealth Effects: The Value of Being "Too Big to Fail."," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(5), pages 1587-1600, December.
    14. Pathan, Shams, 2009. "Strong boards, CEO power and bank risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1340-1350, July.
    15. Kevin Stiroh, 2006. "New Evidence on the Determinants of Bank Risk," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 30(3), pages 237-263, December.
    16. Saunders, Anthony & Strock, Elizabeth & Travlos, Nickolaos G, 1990. "Ownership Structure, Deregulation, and Bank Risk Taking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 643-654, June.
    17. Xin Huang & Hao Zhou & Haibin Zhu, 2012. "Systemic Risk Contributions," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 42(1), pages 55-83, October.
    18. Gilson, Stuart C., 1990. "Bankruptcy, boards, banks, and blockholders : Evidence on changes in corporate ownership and control when firms default," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 355-387, October.
    19. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    20. Chen Zhou, 2009. "Are banks too big to fail?," DNB Working Papers 232, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    21. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    22. Lin, Xiaochi & Zhang, Yi, 2009. "Bank ownership reform and bank performance in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 20-29, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fung, Derrick W.H. & Lee, Wing Yan & Yeh, Jason J.H. & Yuen, Fei Lung, 2020. "Friend or foe: The divergent effects of FinTech on financial stability," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    2. Naoise McDonagh, 2021. "The evolution of bank bailout policy: two centuries of variation, selection and retention," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 1065-1088, July.
    3. Wang, Ze & Gao, Xiangyun & Huang, Shupei & Sun, Qingru & Chen, Zhihua & Tang, Renwu & Di, Zengru, 2022. "Measuring systemic risk contribution of global stock markets: A dynamic tail risk network approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. An, Jiafu & Jiang, Mengfei & Xu, Jiaman, 2021. "Professional norms and risk-taking of bank employees: Do expectations of peers’ risk preferences matter?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    5. Bui, Dien Giau & Chen, Yan-Shing & Hsu, Hsing-Hua & Lin, Chih-Yung, 2020. "Labor unions and bank risk culture: evidence from the financial crisis," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Allen N. Berger & Björn Imbierowicz & Christian Rauch, 2016. "The Roles of Corporate Governance in Bank Failures during the Recent Financial Crisis," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(4), pages 729-770, June.
    2. Bai, Gang & Elyasiani, Elyas, 2013. "Bank stability and managerial compensation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 799-813.
    3. Gorton, Gary & Winton, Andrew, 2003. "Financial intermediation," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 431-552, Elsevier.
    4. Cronqvist, Henrik & Makhija, Anil K. & Yonker, Scott E., 2012. "Behavioral consistency in corporate finance: CEO personal and corporate leverage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 20-40.
    5. Philip E. Strahan, 2013. "Too Big to Fail: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 43-61, November.
    6. Luca Bellardini & Pierluigi Murro & Daniele Previtali, 2019. "The Risk Weighted Ownership Index: an ex-ante measure of banks' risk and performance," Working Papers CASMEF 1904, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    7. Gündüz, Yalin, 2020. "The market impact of systemic risk capital surcharges," Discussion Papers 09/2020, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    8. Lassaâd Mbarek & Dorra Mezzez Hmaied, 2012. "Stock Market Assessment of Bank Risk: Evidence from the Maghreb Region," Working Papers 679, Economic Research Forum, revised 2012.
    9. Mbarek Lassaâd & Mezzez Hmaied Dorra, 2012. "Stock Market Assessment of Bank Risk: Evidence from the Maghreb Region," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-26, August.
    10. Sullivan, Richard J. & Spong, Kenneth R., 2007. "Manager wealth concentration, ownership structure, and risk in commercial banks," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 229-248, April.
    11. Allen N. Berger & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Raluca A. Roman, 2017. "Internationalization and Bank Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(7), pages 2283-2301, July.
    12. Ippolito, Filippo & Peydró, José-Luis & Polo, Andrea & Sette, Enrico, 2016. "Double bank runs and liquidity risk management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 135-154.
    13. Javed Ahmed & Christopher Anderson & Rebecca Zarutskie, 2015. "Are the Borrowing Costs of Large Financial Firms Unusual?," Working Papers 15-10, Office of Financial Research, US Department of the Treasury.
    14. Mohsen Afsharian & Anna Kryvko & Peter Reichling, 2011. "Efficiency and Its Impact on the Performance of European Commercial Banks," FEMM Working Papers 110018, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    15. Sungho Choi & Bill B. Francis & Iftekhar Hasan, 2010. "Cross-Border Bank M&As and Risk: Evidence from the Bond Market," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 615-645, June.
    16. Mohamed Belkhir & Abdelaziz Chazi, 2010. "Compensation Vega, Deregulation, and Risk‐Taking: Lessons from the US Banking Industry," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(9‐10), pages 1218-1247, November.
    17. Westman, Hanna, 2011. "The impact of management and board ownership on profitability in banks with different strategies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 3300-3318.
    18. Berger, Allen N. & Bonaccorsi di Patti, Emilia, 2006. "Capital structure and firm performance: A new approach to testing agency theory and an application to the banking industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 1065-1102, April.
    19. Carletti, Elena & Ongena, Steven & Siedlarek, Jan-Peter & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2021. "The impacts of stricter merger legislation on bank mergers and acquisitions: Too-Big-To-Fail and competition," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    20. Abinzano, Isabel & Gonzalez-Urteaga, Ana & Muga, Luis & Sanchez, Santiago, 2020. "Performance of default-risk measures: the sample matters," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:149:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3133-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.