A Theory of Bank Capital

53 Pages Posted: 9 Jun 1999

See all articles by Douglas W. Diamond

Douglas W. Diamond

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Raghuram G. Rajan

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; International Monetary Fund (IMF); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 1999

Abstract

Banks can create liquidity because their deposits are fragile and prone to runs. Increased uncertainty can make deposits excessively fragile in which case there is a role for outside bank capital. Greater bank capital reduces liquidity creation by the bank but enables the bank to survive more often and avoid distress. A more subtle effect is that banks with different amounts of capital extract different amounts of repayment from borrowers. The optimal bank capital structure trades off the effects of bank capital on liquidity creation, the expected costs of bank distress, and the ease of forcing borrower repayment. The model can account for phenomena such as the decline in average bank capital in the United States over the last two centuries, or the nature of disintermediation in liberalizing economies. Finally, it points to overlooked side-effects of policies such as regulatory capital requirements and deposit insurance.

JEL Classification: E51, G21, G28, G32

Suggested Citation

Diamond, Douglas W. and Rajan, Raghuram G., A Theory of Bank Capital (April 1999). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=166409 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.166409

Douglas W. Diamond (Contact Author)

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Raghuram G. Rajan

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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