Sky Blog
Crypto is at a crossroads. After a cascade of bankruptcies – including FTX’s implosion – millions of defrauded customers, and trillions of dollars in value destruction, many are wondering whether the sector has a future. Amidst the wreckage, after years …
Earnings announcements serve a well-recognized role of conveying important information about firm performance to the market. However, an often-overlooked role of earnings releases is their ability to discipline market expectations.
Our study examines this disciplining role in the context of …
In a recent paper, we examine whether listed bank holding companies (BHCs) that are small enough to stay private are riskier than private BHCs that are large enough to go public but have opted not to do so.
Some …
The runs on Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in March 2023 created a “very high” risk of contagion in the U.S. banking system, according to Treasury Department officials. The intervention by banking regulators, using tools approved in response …
Financial Technology, or “fintech,” is one of the fastest growing sectors in finance. In 2010, the total amount of funding raised by fintech firms was just over $1 billion dollars, while in 2018, total funding was around $40 billion. In …
High-quality accounting standards are critical for efficient global markets. The most widespread – used in more than 150 countries – are International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) creates and maintains IFRS, which is challenging because …
U.S. banking has always been a risky business. The financial panics of 1819, 1837, 1873, 1907, and 1931-32 all sparked banking crises, recessions, or full-scale depressions. Depositors lost everything every time a bank failed. But the Great Depression was the …
In July 2021, President Biden issued an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the American economy. This development has renewed researchers’ interest in the impact of competition on firm behavior and economic activity. While prior research focused on how …
As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently observed, the United States has not defaulted on its national debt since its founding in 1789, and we should not start now.[1] She also pointed out that Congress has raised the statutory ceiling …
The Financial Stability Oversight Council unanimously approved two proposals for public comment regarding FSOC’s authority to designate nonbank financial companies for Federal Reserve supervision and regulation, as summarized in our deck. These proposals would reverse key aspects of changes made …
With the rise of investing based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors has come controversy. While some see ESG investing as a way to create sustainable shareholder value,[1] others view it as a means for advancing contested values …
As the threat of an unprecedented default in U.S. government debt plays out over the coming months, the United States is in uncharted territory. And so are directors and management teams at corporates, whether public or private. While there have …
In business schools, managers are taught to maximize the net present value (NPV) of future cash flows. In the real world, managers consistently ignore this advice. When asked, they repeatedly say they maximize earnings per share (EPS). “Firms view earnings, …
The best way out of the bank stability problem revealed by the run on Silicon Valley Bank – but spreading to other banks – may be a new style of prime money market fund (“MMF”) that, unlike existing prime MMFs, …
The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) surprised many investors and industry experts, given the bank’s recent accolades and long-standing reputation as one of the best national and regional banks in the U.S.[1]Moreover, there had been no …
Within the world of corporate governance, there has hardly been a more important recent development than the rise of the Big Three asset managers — Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors, and BlackRock. Due to the popularity of index funds and …
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank to find a buyer opens up the possibility (and the need) for a new kind of bank that is focused on financial stability as well as the traditional banking functions of lending and running …
In a forthcoming article, I observe that commercial law has uncertain boundaries, challenging the traditional view that commercial law is a separate and distinct body of law. Various provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) may be overinclusive, conflicting …
Today we are taking decisive actions to protect the U.S. economy by strengthening public confidence in our banking system. This step will ensure that the U.S. banking system continues to perform its vital roles of protecting deposits and providing access …