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Looting and risk shifting in banking crises

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  • Boyd, John H.
  • Hakenes, Hendrik

Abstract

We construct a model of the banking firm with inside and outside equity and use it to study bank behavior and regulatory policy during crises. In our model, a bank can increase the risk of its asset portfolio (“risk shift”), convert bank assets to the personal benefit of the bank manager (“loot”), or do both. A regulator has three policy tools: it can restrict the bankʼs investment choices; it can make looting more costly; and it can force banks to hold more equity. Capital regulation may increase looting, and in extreme cases even risk shifting. Looting penalties reduce both looting and risk-shifting.

Suggested Citation

  • Boyd, John H. & Hakenes, Hendrik, 2014. "Looting and risk shifting in banking crises," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 43-64.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:149:y:2014:i:c:p:43-64
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2012.10.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Jin Cheng & Meixing Dai & Frédéric Dufourt, 2015. "The banking crisis with interbank market freeze," Working Papers of BETA 2015-20, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    2. Sharon Peleg†Lazar & Alon Raviv, 2017. "Bank Risk Dynamics Where Assets are Risky Debt Claims," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 23(1), pages 3-31, January.
    3. Martynova, Natalya & Ratnovski, Lev & Vlahu, Razvan, 2020. "Bank profitability, leverage constraints, and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    4. Caterina Mendicino & Kalin Nikolov & Javier Suarez, 2017. "Equity versus Bail-in Debt in Banking: An Agency Perspective," Working Papers wp2017_1712, CEMFI.
    5. Mª Pilar García-Alcober & Manuel Illueca & Diego Prior & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2016. "Risk-taking behavior, earnings quality, and performance in Spanish banking: A profit frontier approach," Working Papers 2016/19, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    6. Natalya Martynova & Mr. Lev Ratnovski & Mr. Razvan Vlahu, 2015. "Bank Profitability and Risk-Taking," IMF Working Papers 2015/249, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Koch, Christoffer & Okamura, Ken, 2019. "Why does the FDIC sue?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 255-275.
    8. Mendicino, Caterina & Nikolov, Kalin & Suarez, Javier, 2017. "Equity versus Bail-in Debt in Banking: An Agency Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 12104, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Thakor, Anjan V., 2021. "Politics, credit allocation and bank capital requirements," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    10. Jin Cheng & Meixing Dai & Frédéric Dufourt, 2016. "Banking Crisis, Moral Hazard and Fiscal Policy Responses," Working Papers of BETA 2016-06, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    11. Allen, Franklin & Vayanos, Dimitri & Vives, Xavier, 2014. "Introduction to financial economics," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1-14.
    12. Jaevin Park, 2020. "Inside Money, Business Cycle, and Bank Capital Requirements," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 36, pages 103-121, April.
    13. Kentaro Asai, 2016. "Is Capping Executive Bonuses Useful?," IMF Working Papers 2016/196, International Monetary Fund.
    14. James R. Barth & Sunghoon Joo & Kang‐Bok Lee, 2022. "Bank–client cross‐ownership of bank stocks: A network analysis," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 280-312, June.
    15. Sigríður Benediktsdóttir & Gauti B. Eggertsson & Eggert Þórarinsson, 2017. "The Rise, the Fall, and the Resurrection of Iceland," NBER Working Papers 24005, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Sigríður Benediktsdóttir & Gauti Bergþóruson Eggertsson & Eggert Þórarinsson, 2017. "The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Iceland: A Postmortem Analysis of the 2008 Financial Crisis," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 48(2 (Fall)), pages 191-308.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Looting; Stealing; Tunneling; Risk shifting; Asset substitution; Gambling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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