Search Results
Journal Article
Banking reform: an overview of the restructuring debate
Working Paper
Collateral and competition
The authors examine the effects of changes in competitive conditions on the structure of loan contracts. In particular, they present conditions in which greater loan market competition reduces the stringency of contractual collateral requirements, a prediction that is consistent with anecdotal evidence from loan markets. The authors also analyze the interaction between the degree of competition and the efficiency of contractual renegotiation. Insufficiently competitive markets may lead to bargaining difficulties that reduce the efficiency of renegotiable contracts. At low levels of ...
Journal Article
That thing venture capitalist do
Although many people know the term venture capital, not many people know precisely what role venture capitalists play in the economy. How do they identify entrepreneurs with promising new ideas? What kinds of services do they provide to these entrepreneurs? Mitchell Berlin answers these and other questions as he describes "that thing venture capitalists do."
Journal Article
Loan commitments: insurance contracts in a risky world
Working Paper
Measuring Climate Transition Risk at the Regional Level with an Application to Community Banks
We develop a measure of climate transition risk for regional economies in the U.S., based on the mix of firms that produce emissions in each region. To quantify transition risks, we consider the introduction of an emissions tax levied on companies emitting greenhouse gases and estimate changes in the market values of industries due to a carbon tax using Merton’s (1974) model. We find that transition risks are highly concentrated in a few sectors and counties with heavy exposures to transition-sensitive sectors. The size and geographic concentration of the tax effects depend significantly on ...
Working Paper
Concentration of Control Rights in Leveraged Loan Syndicates
Corporate loan contracts frequently concentrate control rights with a subset of lenders. In a large fraction of leveraged loans, which typically include a revolving line of credit and a term loan, the revolving lenders have the exclusive right and ability to monitor and renegotiate the financial covenants in the governing credit agreements. Concentration is more common in loans that include nonbank institutional lenders and in loans originated subsequent to the financial crisis, when recognition of bargaining frictions increased. We conclude that concentrated control rights maintain the ...
Journal Article
\\"We control the vertical\\": three theories of the firm
The author discusses three broad approaches to vertical integration. He then uses each approach, in turn, to examine the pros and cons of a firm's decision to integrate forward.
Working Paper
Financing, commitment and entry deterrence
Journal Article
New rules for foreign banks: what's at stake?
In response to the financial crisis, stricter rules are being phased in for foreign banks operating on U.S. soil. Mitchell Berlin explains how global banking drives efficiency, how the new rules may impede that efficiency, and why the rules may nevertheless be necessary.
Journal Article
Banks and markets: substitutes, complements, or both?
In traditional banking arrangements, households hold their savings in the form of deposits at the bank, which makes loans to both firms and households and holds these loans to maturity. But in the United States, and to a lesser extent in other developed countries, markets have increasingly taken over the roles traditionally played by banks. The shift of financing activity from banks to financial markets, as well as their continued coexistence, raises a number of questions. In this article, Mitchell Berlin discusses some of these questions, such as: What factors determine the relative ...