Asymmetric Information and the Market Structure of the Banking Industry

Asymmetric Information and the Market Structure of the Banking Industry
Author: Mr.Giovanni Dell'Ariccia
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 32
Release: 1998-06-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 145195154X

The paper analyzes the effects of informational asymmetries on the market structure of the banking industry in a multi-period model of spatial competition. All lenders face uncertainty with regard to borrowers’ creditworthiness, but, in the process of lending, incumbent banks gather proprietary information about their clients, acquiring an advantage over potential entrants. These informational asymmetries are an important determinant of the industry structure and may represent a barrier to entry for new banks. The paper shows that, in contrast with traditional models of horizontal differentiation, the steady-state equilibrium is characterized by a finite number of banks even in the absence of fixed costs.

A Bennet Decomposition of Industry Dynamics

A Bennet Decomposition of Industry Dynamics
Author: Yongil Jeon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2008
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper considers the aggregate performance of the banking industry, applying a modified and extended Bennet (1920) dynamic decomposition of bank return on equity as an illustration. The aggregate performance of any industry depends on the underlying microeconomic dynamics within that industry - adjustments within banks, reallocations between banks, entry of new banks, and exit of existing banks. Bailey, Hulten, and Campbell (1992) and Haltiwanger (1997) develop dynamic decompositions of industry performance. We extend those analyses to derive a Bennet decomposition that includes their decomposition as a special case. We also extend the decomposition, consider geography, and implement decomposition on a state-by-state basis, linking that geographic decomposition back to the national level. We then consider how deregulation of geographic restrictions on bank activity affects the components of the state-level dynamic decomposition, controlling for competition and the state of the economy within each state and employing fixed- and random-effects estimation for a panel database across the fifty states and the District of Columbia from 1976 to 2005.