The risk spiral: The effects of bank capital and diversification on risk taking

Sharon Peleg Lazar and Alon Raviv
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Sharon Peleg-Lazar ()

International Review of Financial Analysis, 2019, vol. 65, issue C

Abstract: We present a model where bank assets are a portfolio of risky debt claims and analyze stockholders' risk-taking behavior while considering the strategic interaction between debtors and creditors. We find that: (1) as the leverage of a bank increases, risk shifting by borrowers increases, even if their leverage is unchanged (zombie lending). (2) While the literature demonstrates that an increase in the comovement of a loan portfolio increases the bank's cost of default directly, we find that the increase in comovement causes an increase in risk shifting that further increases the cost of default (3) Risk shifting decreases with the diversification of a loan portfolio.

Keywords: Risk taking; Banks; Comovements; Deposit insurance; Zombie lending (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 G28 G32 G38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Working Paper: The Risk Spiral: The Effects of Bank Capital and Diversification on Risk Taking (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finana:v:65:y:2019:i:c:s1057521919300973

DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2019.101388

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