Financial Institutions

According to conventional wisdom, banks play a special role in providing liquidity in bad times, while capital markets are used to fund investment in good times. Using microdata on corporate balance sheets following the COVID-19 shock, we provide evidence that instead, the corporate bond market is central to firms' access to liquidity, crowding out bank loans even when the crisis did not originate in the banking sector. We first show that, contrary to good times, bond issuance is used to increase holdings of liquid assets rather than for real investment.

The SEC should reform 144A regulation to prevent Wall Street streaking further ahead.

In a fresh Covid-19 wave, Sally Beauty may beg for cash with nothing left for collateral.

We study how small and medium enterprise (SME) lenders react to information about their competitors' contracting decisions. To isolate this learning from lenders' common reactions to unobserved shocks to fundamentals, we exploit the staggered entry of lenders into an information-sharing platform. Upon entering, lenders adjust their contract terms toward what others offer. This reaction is mediated by the distribution of market shares: lenders with higher shares or that operate in concentrated markets react less.

For one, if you’re worried about a Covid-19 cash crunch, consider slicing your salary.

Cryptocurrencies provide an important dimension of innovation to the evolution of the exchange medium we call money. There are now over 2,000 such currencies, and their potential and volume is growing. How- ever, they will, collectively and in volume, create real problems for the monetary system of a country. Central banks, which are institutions tasked with providing monetary stability, are more essential than ever.