NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

How Big a Problem is Too Big to Fail?

Frederic S. Mishkin

NBER Working Paper No. 11814*
Issued in December 2005
NBER Program(s):   ME

This review essay examines whether too-big-to-fail is as serious a problem as Gary Stern and Ron Feldman contend. This essay argues that Stern and Feldman overstate the importance of the too-big-to-fail problem and do not give enough credit to the FDICIA legislation of 1991 for improving bank regulation and supervision. However, this criticism of the Stern and Feldman book does not detract from many of its messages. Even if the too-big-to-fail problem is not as serious as they contend, the policies they outline can make it less likely that a banking crisis will occur even if driven by other factors.

*Published: Mishkin, Frederic. “How Big a Problem is Too Big to Fail?” Journal of Economic Literature vol XLIV (December 2006): 988-1004.

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