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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 109 No. 1 2013

How does capital affect bank performance during financial crises?

Allen N. Berger1,2,3; Christa H. S. Bouwman4,1

1 University of Pennsylvania · 2 University of South Carolina · 3 Tilburg University · 4 Case Western Reserve University

Abstract

This paper empirically examines how capital affects a bank’s performance (survival and market share) and how this effect varies across banking crises, market crises, and normal times that occurred in the US over the past quarter century. We have two main results. First, capital helps small banks to increase their probability of survival and market share at all times (during banking crises, market crises, and normal times). Second, capital enhances the performance of medium and large banks primarily during banking crises. Additional tests explore channels through which capital generates these effects. Numerous robustness checks and additional tests are performed.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2013.02.008
Volume
109
Issue
1
Pages
146-176
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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