IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Log in (now much improved!) to save this article

Too Big to Fail: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses

Author Info

  • Philip E. Strahan

    ()

    (Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467
    The National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138)

Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    Governments cannot credibly commit to eschew bailouts of creditors when large financial institutions become distressed. This too-big-to-fail (TBTF) problem distorts how markets price securities issued by TBTF firms, thus encouraging them to borrow too much and take too much risk. TBTF also encourages financial firms to grow, leading to competitive inequity and potential misallocation of credit. This review discusses evidence that such distortions are empirically relevant and also discusses the policy efforts to limit them. In the wake of the Financial Crisis of 2007–2008, it seems increased concentration in the financial industry has worsened the TBTF problem. Nevertheless, markets price the risks of large financial firms more now than before the Financial Crisis.

    Download Info

    If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

    File URL: http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-financial-110112-121025
    Download Restriction: Full text downloads are only available to subscribers. Visit the abstract page for more information.

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

    Article provided by Annual Reviews in its journal Annual Review of Financial Economics.

    Volume (Year): 5 (2013)
    Issue (Month): 1 (November)
    Pages: 43-61

    as
    in new window

    Handle: RePEc:anr:refeco:v:5:y:2013:p:43-61
    Contact details of provider: Postal:
    Annual Reviews 4139 El Camino Way Palo Alto, CA 94306, USA

    Web page: http://www.annualreviews.org

    Order Information: Web: http://www.annualreviews.org/action/ecommerce

    Keywords: bank risk; too big to fail;

    Find related papers by JEL classification:

    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

    as in new window
    1. Reint Gropp & Hendrik Hakenes & Isabel Schnabel, 2010. "Competition, Risk-Shifting, and Public Bail-out Policies," Working Papers 1003, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, revised 14 Jan 2010.
    2. Franklin R. Edward, 1999. "Hedge Funds and the Collapse of Long-Term Capital Management," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 189-210, Spring.
    3. Brunnermeier, Markus K & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2007. "Market Liquidity and Funding Liquidity," CEPR Discussion Papers 6179, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. 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 1347-77, September.
    5. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2000. "Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending," NBER Working Papers 7685, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-86, June.
    7. Edward J. Kane, 2000. "Incentives for banking megamergers: what motives might regulators infer from event-study evidence?," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 671-705.
    8. Elijah Brewer & Julapa Jagtiani, 2011. "How much did banks pay to become too-big-to-fail and to become systematically important?," Working Papers 11-37, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    9. Douglas W. Diamond & Philip H. Dybvig, 2000. "Bank runs, deposit insurance, and liquidity," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, issue Win, pages 14-23.
    10. Kanatas, George & Qi, Jianping, 1998. "Underwriting by Commercial Banks: Incentive Conflicts, Scope Economies, and Project Quality," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(1), pages 119-33, February.
    11. 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.
    12. Timothy H. Hannan & Gerald A. Hanweck, 1986. "Bank insolvency risk and the market for large certificates of deposit," Working Papers in Banking, Finance and Microeconomics 86-1, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    13. Randall S. Kroszner & Philip E. Strahan, 1999. "What Drives Deregulation? Economics and Politics of the Relaxation of Bank Branching Restrictions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(4), pages 1437-1467.
    14. Randall S. Kroszner & Raghuram G. Rajan, . "Organization Structure and Credibility: Evidence from Commercial Bank Securities Activities Before the Glass-Steagall Act," CRSP working papers 325, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    15. Gande, Amar, et al, 1997. "Bank Underwriting of Debt Securities: Modern Evidence," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 1175-1202.
    16. Avery, Robert B & Belton, Terrence M & Goldberg, Michael A, 1988. "Market Discipline in Regulating Bank Risk: New Evidence from the Capital Markets," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 20(4), pages 597-610, November.
    17. Carola Schenone, 2004. "The Effect of Banking Relationships on the Firm's IPO Underpricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(6), pages 2903-2958, December.
    18. Kane, Edward J, 1990. " Principal-Agent Problems in S&L Salvage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 755-64, July.
    19. Tara Rice & Philip E. Strahan, 2010. "Does Credit Competition Affect Small-Firm Finance?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 861-889, 06.
    20. Berger, Allen N. & Demsetz, Rebecca S. & Strahan, Philip E., 1999. "The consolidation of the financial services industry: Causes, consequences, and implications for the future," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(2-4), pages 135-194, February.
    21. Milton Friedman & Anna J. Schwartz, 1963. "A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number frie63-1, Jan-Jun.
    22. Gary Gorton & Andrew Metrick, 2009. "Securitized Banking and the Run on Repo," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2358, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Sep 2009.
    23. Adam B. Ashcraft, 2005. "Are Banks Really Special? New Evidence from the FDIC-Induced Failure of Healthy Banks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1712-1730, December.
    24. David C. Wheelock & Paul W. Wilson, 2012. "Do Large Banks Have Lower Costs? New Estimates of Returns to Scale for U.S. Banks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 171-199, 02.
    25. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2009. "This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8973, 01-2013.
    26. 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.
    27. Randall S. Kroszner, 1999. "Can the financial markets privately regulate risk? The development of derivatives clearinghouses and recent over-the-counter innovations," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 596-623.
    28. Markus K. Brunnermeier, 2009. "Deciphering the Liquidity and Credit Crunch 2007-2008," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 77-100, Winter.
    29. Todd A. Gormley & Simon Johnson & Changyong Rhee, 2011. "Ending "Too Big To Fail": Government Promises vs. Investor Perceptions," NBER Working Papers 17518, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Ben S. Bernanke, 1983. "Non-Monetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of the Great Depression," NBER Working Papers 1054, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    31. Elena Loutskina & Philip E. Strahan, 2011. "Informed and Uninformed Investment in Housing: The Downside of Diversification," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(5), pages 1447-1480.
    32. Kroszner, Randall S & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1994. "Is the Glass-Steagall Act Justified? A Study of the U.S. Experience with Universal Banking before 1933," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 810-32, September.
    33. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    34. Jayaratne, Jith & Strahan, Philip E, 1998. "Entry Restrictions, Industry Evolution, and Dynamic Efficiency: Evidence from Commercial Banking," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 239-73, April.
    35. Ang, James S. & Richardson, Terry, 1994. "The underwriting experience of commercial bank affiliates prior to the Glass-Steagall Act: A reexamination of evidence for passage of the act," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 351-395, January.
    36. Donald Morgan & Kevin Stiroh, 2001. "Market Discipline of Banks: The Asset Test," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 20(2), pages 195-208, October.
    37. Lawrence White & W. Scott Frame, 2004. "Fussing and Fuming over Fannie and Freddie: How Much Smoke, How Much Fire?," Working Papers 04-27, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    38. Slovin, Myron B & Sushka, Marie E & Polonchek, John A, 1993. " The Value of Bank Durability: Borrowers as Bank Stakeholders," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(1), pages 247-66, March.
    39. Randall S. Kroszner, 1999. "Can the Financial Markets Privately Regulate Risk? The Development of Derivatives Clearing Houses and Recent Over-the Counter Innovations," CRSP working papers 493, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    40. Kroszner, Randall S, 1999. "Can the Financial Markets Privately Regulate Risk? The Development of Derivatives Clearinghouses and Recent Over-the-Counter Innovations," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 31(3), pages 596-618, August.
    41. Keeley, Michael C, 1990. "Deposit Insurance, Risk, and Market Power in Banking," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1183-1200, December.
    42. Jith Jayaratne & Philip E. Strahan, 1996. "The Finance-Growth Nexus: Evidence from Bank Branch Deregulation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 111(3), pages 639-670.
    43. Daniel Paravisini, 2008. "Local Bank Financial Constraints and Firm Access to External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2161-2193, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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

    as in new window


    Cited by:

    1. Stijn Claessens & Neeltje van Horen, 2014. "The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Banking Globalization," IMF Working Papers 14/197, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Robert C. Merton & Richard T. Thakor, 2015. "Customers and Investors: A Framework for Understanding Financial Institutions," NBER Working Papers 21258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Fabio Schiantarelli & Massimiliano Stacchini & Philip Strahan, 2016. "Bank quality, judicial efficiency and borrower runs: loan repayment delays in Italy," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1072, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    4. Tigran Poghosyan & Charlotte Werger & Jakob de Haan, 2014. "Size and support ratings of US banks," DNB Working Papers 434, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    5. Michele Bonollo & Irene Crimaldi & Andrea Flori & Fabio Pammolli & Massimo Riccaboni, 2014. "Systemic importance of financial institutions: from a global to a local perspective? A network theory approach," Working Papers 9/2014, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Sep 2014.
    6. Fabio Schiantarelli & Massimiliano Stacchini & Philip E. Strahan, 2016. "Bank Quality, Judicial Efficiency and Borrower Runs: Loan Repayment Delays in Italy," NBER Working Papers 22034, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Rajkamal Iyer & Thais Jensen, & Niels Johannesen & Adam Sheridan, 2016. "The Run for Safety: Financial Fragility and Deposit Insurance," EPRU Working Paper Series 1602, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    8. Kaufman, George G., 2014. "Too big to fail in banking: What does it mean?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 214-223.
    9. McAndrews, James J. & Morgan, Donald P. & Santos, Joao A. C. & Yorulmazer, Tanju, 2014. "What makes large bank failures so messy and what should be done about it?," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Dec, pages 229-244.
    10. Michele Bonollo & Irene Crimaldi & Andrea Flori & Fabio Pammolli & Massimo Riccaboni, 2015. "Systemic risk and banking regulation: some facts on the new regulatory framework," Working Papers 1/2015, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Jan 2015.

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Access and download statistics

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:anr:refeco:v:5:y:2013:p:43-61. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (http://www.annualreviews.org)

    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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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

    This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.