Competition and risk taking in local bank markets: Evidence from the business loans segment
利用挪威企业贷款数据，以银行网点与企业距离衡量竞争度，发现竞争加剧导致银行风险承担增加，同时贷款利率降低、贷款量上升，但小企业和新企业更难获得贷款。
This paper studies empirically the relationship between competition and risk taking in banking markets. We exploit an unique dataset providing information about all bank loans to Norwegian firms over several years. Rather than relying on observed market shares, we use the distance between bank branches and firms to measure the competitiveness of local markets. The cross-sectional and longitudinal variation in competition in local markets are used to identify the relationship between competition and risk taking, which we measure by the non-performing loans and loss provision rates of the individual banks. We find that more competition leads to more risk taking. We also examine the effects of bank competition on the availability of loans. More competition leads to lower interest rates and higher loan volumes, but also makes it more difficult for small and newly established firms to obtain a loan.