IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/mateco/v111y2024ics0304406824000235.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Increasing returns to scale and financial fragility

Author

Listed:
  • Gao, Jiahong
  • Reed, Robert R.

Abstract

How do liquidity creation and financial fragility depend on increasing returns to scale? We study this question in a version of the Diamond and Dybvig (1983) model with limited commitment. We show that while a higher minimum scale generally lowers welfare since it makes the investment technology more restrictive, there exhibits a non-monotonic relationship between the degree of instability and size thresholds. In particular, to reap the benefits of scale economies, the bank facing somewhat higher scale cutoffs may issue liabilities prudently where such cautious behavior ameliorates depositors’ incentive to panic. Nevertheless, a relatively large minimum scale is not always associated with lower degrees of fragility in the sense that the bank facing medium size thresholds is most vulnerable to a crisis. Such findings indicate that failing to account for scale economies in banking activity leaves a significant void in policy debates regarding the stability of the financial system.

Suggested Citation

  • Gao, Jiahong & Reed, Robert R., 2024. "Increasing returns to scale and financial fragility," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:mateco:v:111:y:2024:i:c:s0304406824000235
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmateco.2024.102961
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304406824000235
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jmateco.2024.102961?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Green, Edward J. & Lin, Ping, 2003. "Implementing efficient allocations in a model of financial intermediation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 1-23, March.
    2. Li, Yang, 2017. "Interest rates and financial fragility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 195-205.
    3. David C. Wheelock & Paul W. Wilson, 2012. "Do Large Banks Have Lower Costs? New Estimates of Returns to Scale for U.S. Banks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 171-199, February.
    4. Huberto M. Ennis & Todd Keister, 2009. "Bank Runs and Institutions: The Perils of Intervention," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1588-1607, September.
    5. Douglas W. Diamond & Philip H. Dybvig, 2000. "Bank runs, deposit insurance, and liquidity," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Win), pages 14-23.
    6. David C. Wheelock & Paul W. Wilson, 2018. "The evolution of scale economies in US banking," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 16-28, January.
    7. Ennis, Huberto M. & Keister, Todd, 2010. "Banking panics and policy responses," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(4), pages 404-419, May.
    8. Todd Keister, 2016. "Bailouts and Financial Fragility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(2), pages 704-736.
    9. James Peck & Abolfazi Setayesh, 2023. "Bank Runs and the Optimality of Limited Banking," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 47, pages 100-110, January.
    10. James Peck & Karl Shell, 2003. "Bank Portfolio Restrictions and Equilibrium Bank Runs," Levine's Bibliography 666156000000000077, UCLA Department of Economics.
    11. James Peck & Karl Shell, 2003. "Equilibrium Bank Runs," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(1), pages 103-123, February.
    12. Edward J. Green & Ping Lin, 2000. "Diamond and Dybvig's classic theory of financial intermediation : what's missing?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Win), pages 3-13.
    13. Neil Wallace, 1988. "Another attempt to explain an illiquid banking system: the Diamond and Dybvig model with sequential service taken seriously," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 12(Fall), pages 3-16.
    14. Jefferson Bertolai & Ricardo Cavalcanti & Paulo Monteiro, 2014. "Run theorems for low returns and large banks," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 57(2), pages 223-252, October.
    15. Neil Wallace, 1990. "A banking model in which partial suspension is best," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 14(Fall), pages 11-23.
    16. Cooper, Russell & Ross, Thomas W., 1998. "Bank runs: Liquidity costs and investment distortions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 27-38, February.
    17. Gao, Jiahong & Reed, Robert R., 2021. "Sunspot bank runs and fragility: The role of financial sector competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Keister, Todd & Mitkov, Yuliyan, 2023. "Allocating losses: Bail-ins, bailouts and bank regulation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    2. Gao, Jiahong & Reed, Robert R., 2021. "Sunspot bank runs and fragility: The role of financial sector competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Li, Yang, 2017. "Interest rates and financial fragility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 195-205.
    4. Gu, Chao & Monnet, Cyril & Nosal, Ed & Wright, Randall, 2023. "Diamond–Dybvig and beyond: On the instability of banking," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    5. Huberto Ennis & Todd Keister, 2016. "Optimal banking contracts and financial fragility," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 61(2), pages 335-363, February.
    6. Todd Keister & Vijay Narasiman, 2016. "Expectations vs. Fundamentals- driven Bank Runs: When Should Bailouts be Permitted?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 21, pages 89-104, July.
    7. Sim, Khai Zhi, 2024. "Bank bailouts: Moral hazard and commitment," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. Mitkov, Yuliyan, 2020. "Inequality and financial fragility," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 233-248.
    9. Todd Keister, 2016. "Bailouts and Financial Fragility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(2), pages 704-736.
    10. Jiahong Gao & Robert R. Reed, 2023. "Preventing bank panics: The role of the regulator's preferences," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(2), pages 387-422, May.
    11. Ryuichiro Izumi & Yang LI, 2024. "Rapid Bank Runs and Delayed Policy Responses," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2024-006, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    12. Ryuichiro Izumi, 2021. "Opacity: Insurance and Fragility," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 40, pages 146-169, April.
    13. Ryuichiro Izumi & Yang Li, 2021. "Financial Stability with Fire Sale Externalities," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2021-002, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    14. Huberto M. Ennis & Todd Keister, 2007. "Commitment and equilibrium bank runs," Staff Reports 274, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    15. Voellmy, Lukas, 2024. "Preventing runs under sequential revelation of liquidity needs," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    16. Keister, Todd & Monnet, Cyril, 2022. "Central bank digital currency: Stability and information," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    17. Ennis, Huberto M. & Keister, Todd, 2010. "Banking panics and policy responses," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(4), pages 404-419, May.
    18. Ennis, Huberto M. & Keister, Todd, 2009. "Run equilibria in the Green-Lin model of financial intermediation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(5), pages 1996-2020, September.
    19. Todd Keister & Huberto M. Ennis, 2008. "Run Equilibria in a Model of Financial Intermediation," 2008 Meeting Papers 513, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    20. Daniel Sanches, 2018. "Banking Panics and Output Dynamics," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 29, pages 148-171, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:mateco:v:111:y:2024:i:c:s0304406824000235. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jmateco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.