Conference Paper
Intermediation and vertical integration
Berlin, Mitchell; Mester, Loretta J. (1998-08)
Proceedings , Issue Aug , Pages 500-523

Journal Article
Bank credit standards
Berlin, Mitchell (2009-04)
Banks' lending standards at times seem too stringent and at other times too lax. The pattern seems to indicate that banks lend more easily in good times but tighten credit standards in lean times. But such a lending pattern may also be attributable to changes in borrowers' default risk over the business cycle or changes in the demand for loans, which rises and falls with GDP. Is there a systematic reason why banks might be too lax or too stringent in their lending? Economists have proposed a number of models to explain a bank lending cycle, including changes in bank capital, competition, or ...
Business Review , Issue Q2 , Pages 1-10

Journal Article
Should business bankruptcy be a one-chapter book?
Berlin, Mitchell (2002-07)
Mitchell Berlin raises the question "Should Business Bankruptcy Be a One-Chapter Book?" The answer, in part, depends on the answers to other questions: What makes more economic sense? A bankruptcy system that auctions a firm's assets and distributes the proceeds among the creditors? Or one that allows the firm to seek to resume business after renegotiations between its stockholders and its creditors? Or is there room?or even a need?for both?
Business Review , Issue Q3 , Pages 18-25

Journal Article
Trade credit: why do production firms act as financial intermediaries?
Berlin, Mitchell (2003-07)
Trade credit remains the single largest source of short-term business credit in the United States and other nations around the world. Why do production firms act as financial intermediaries - a role usually reserved for banks? In "Trade Credit: Why Do Production Firms Act as Financial Intermediaries?" Mitchell Berlin focuses on explanations that view trade credit as a method of monitoring and enforcing loan contracts to relatively risky firms. He also examines explanations in which a firm's long-term supply relationship helps it to make better credit decisions than a bank world.
Business Review , Issue Q3 , Pages 21-28

Journal Article
Summary of workshop on recent developments in consumer credit and payments
Berlin, Mitchell (2010-01)
On September 24-25, 2009, the Research Department and the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia held their fifth joint conference to present and discuss the latest research on consumer credit and payments. Sixty participants attended the conference, which included seven research papers on topics such as securitization and distressed loan renegotiation, consumer disclosure, data breaches and identity theft, and the effects of the U.S. financial crisis on global retail lending. In this article, Mitchell Berlin summarizes the papers presented at the conference.
Business Review , Issue Q1 , Pages 31-38

Journal Article
Dancing with wolves: syndicated loans and the economics of multiple lenders
Berlin, Mitchell (2007-07)
A firm?s passage from borrowing from a single lender to using multiple lenders is often viewed as an inevitable progression in the life of a firm. While there is a strong element of truth in this view, it is also incomplete. The underlying economics of moving from one lender to many involves more than simply asking whether the firm?s revenues are large enough to cover the costs of adding more lenders or of acquiring a public debt rating. The U.S. syndicated loan market provides a useful laboratory for exploring the economics of multiple lenders. In ?Dancing with Wolves: Syndicated Loans and ...
Business Review , Issue Q3 , Pages 1-8

Journal Article
\\"We control the vertical\\": three theories of the firm
Berlin, Mitchell (2001-07)
The author discusses three broad approaches to vertical integration. He then uses each approach, in turn, to examine the pros and cons of a firm's decision to integrate forward.
Business Review , Issue Q3 , Pages 13-22

Journal Article
Loan commitments: insurance contracts in a risky world
Berlin, Mitchell (1986-05)
Business Review , Issue May , Pages 3-12

Journal Article
True confessions: should banks be required to disclose more?
Berlin, Mitchell (2004-10)
Mitchell Berlin examines disclosure requirements for banks. Can market participants play a significant role in ensuring that banks limit their risk-taking? Although regulators find this idea increasingly attractive, economists generally have two schools of thought: Such monitoring could substitute for regulatory discipline to a significant extent or the roles of regulators and market participants could be complementary. But to evaluate banks' risk-taking, investors would want good information about a bank's activities and balance sheet. In light of this, would more disclosure by banks be a ...
Business Review , Issue Q4 , Pages 7-15

Journal Article
Can we explain banks' capital structures?
Berlin, Mitchell (2011-04)
Bank capital has been much in the news during the recent financial crisis. In 2008 and 2009 the U.S. government injected $235 billion of capital into the banking system as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In 2009, bank regulators carried out a full-scale evaluation of the capital adequacy of 19 large banking organizations, ultimately requiring 10 of these organizations to increase their capital levels. While most commentators agree that regulatory capital levels are too low for large organizations ? especially large organizations that create systemic risks ? financial ...
Business Review , Issue Q2 , Pages 1-11