Real effects of bank capital regulations: global evidence

We examine the effect of the full set of bank capital regulations (capital stringency) on loan growth, using bank-level data for a maximum of 125 countries over the period 1998-2011. Contrary to standard theoretical considerations, we find that overall capital stringency only has a weak negative effect on loan growth. In fact, this effect is completely offset if banks hold moderately high levels of capital. Interestingly, the components of capital stringency that have the strongest negative effect on loan growth are those related to the prevention of banks to use as capital borrowed funds and assets other than cash or government securities. In contrast, compliance with Basel guidelines in using Basel- and credit-risk weights has a much less potent effect on loan growth

The Cosmic MeV Neutrino Background as a Laboratory for Black Hole Formation

Calculations of the cosmic rate of core collapses, and the associated neutrino flux, commonly assume that a fixed fraction of massive stars collapse to black holes. We argue that recent results suggest that this fraction instead increases with redshift. With relatively more stars vanishing as "unnovae" in the distant universe, the detectability of the cosmic MeV neutrino background is improved due to their hotter neutrino spectrum, and expectations for supernova surveys are reduced. We conclude that neutrino detectors, after the flux from normal SNe is isolated via either improved modeling or the next Galactic SN, can probe the conditions and history of black hole formation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; Matches version published in Physics Letters

BdbServer++: A User Driven Data Location and Retrieval Tool

The adoption of Grid technology has the potential to greatly aid the BaBar experiment. BdbServer was originally designed to extract copies of data from the Objectivity/DB database at SLAC and IN2P3. With data now stored in multiple locations in a variety of data formats, we are enhancing this tool. This will enable users to extract selected deep copies of event collections and ship them to the requested site using the facilities offered by the existing Grid infrastructure. By building on the work done by various groups in BaBar, and the European DataGrid, we have successfully expanded the capabilities of the BdbServer software. This should provide a framework for future work in data distribution.Comment: Paper based on the poster from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 4 pages, LaTeX, 0 figures. PSN TUCP01

Determinants of the loan loss allowance: some cross-country comparisons

This paper analyses the determinants of banks’ loan loss allowances for samples of US banks and three non-US samples: a group of 21 countries, Canada and Japan. The model includes fundamental (or non-discretionary) determinants of the allowance such as non-performing loans, and discretionary determinants such as income before the loan loss provision. The results suggest that the loan loss allowance is sensitive to pre-provision income in almost all samples. However, the results also suggest that some variables thought to reflect fundamental factors in US analysis, such as net chargeoffs, are not significant factors for non-US banks.loan loss allowance; accounting standards; international banking; nonperforming loan; discretionary accruals