Are Bigger Banks Better? Firm-Level Evidence from Germany
研究德国战后银行规模扩大对企业的影响，发现企业并未因关系银行变大而增长更快，不透明借款人甚至增长更慢，银行经理却受益于高薪和媒体关注。
The effects of large banks on the real economy are theoretically ambiguous and politically controversial. I identify quasi-exogenous increases in bank size in postwar Germany. I show that firms did not grow faster after their relationship banks became bigger. In fact, opaque borrowers grew more slowly. The enlarged banks did not increase profits or efficiency but worked with riskier borrowers. Bank managers benefited through higher salaries and media attention. The results are based on newly digitized microdata on German firms and their banks. Overall, the findings reveal that bigger banks do not always raise real growth and can actually harm some borrowers and the real economy.