The adopted system of financing educational tasks by local governments (LSGs), which allocates resources by reference to a funding formula ‘per pupil’, is no longer in tune with the changing socio-economic context of the development of Poland. The aim of this article is to identify the considerations which should be taken into account in the construction of a new model of funding school educational tasks by local governments. The study involved a desk based literature review and a ratio analysis of the financial condition of LSGs (indebtedness). The conducted analyses imply that the following issues need to be addressed: guaranteed financial independence of the local government as the governing body for educational institutions; transition from the ‘per pupil’ to ‘per class’ formula in allocating public resources; and guaranteed adequacy of public fund transfers for changes resulting from educational system reforms. If the above-mentioned conditions addressing financial, legal, demographic and political contexts are taken into consideration, the changes to the model of financing educational tasks will have a systemic character.
The article concerns the aspects of the local government responsibility for health care with the special importance of primary care development. The authoress identified recent events connected with the decentralization of health care powers as well as those which influenced current functions of primary health. To identify the real problems of primary care functioning and its relation with local authority and National Health Found (the payer institution) the Ministry of Health, Supreme Chamber of Control and The Central Statistical Office documents have been used. Also the legal analysis concerning the aspects of local government and primary care qualifications in the health care system has been done.
Od roku 2016 są zaplanowane istotne zmiany w systemie zadań oświatowych w Polsce. Nie mogą one zostać skutecznie zaimplementowane bez stosownych zmian w systemie finansów publicznych. Organizacja i finansowanie zadań oświatowych w Polsce to bowiem w zdecydowanej większości odpowiedzialność jednostek samorządu terytorialnego za jakość i zakres świadczonych usług dla obywateli. Dlatego też problem finansowania oświaty jest przedmiotem zainteresowania wielu środowisk. Wzrostowi zainteresowania tą problematyką sprzyjają plany reformowania systemu oświaty. Celem artykułu jest ocena proponowanych zmian w systemie finansowania zadań oświatowych na przykładzie koncepcji reprezentowanych przez przedstawicieli trzech gremiów: rządu, samorządu terytorialnego oraz obywateli. Analiza została przeprowadzona z uwzględnieniem oceny zakresu przedmiotowego zmian w systemie finansowania zadań oświatowych, źródeł pokrycia finansowego tych przekształceń oraz ich skutków ekonomicznych. W wyniku dokonanej analizy stwierdzono, że zgłoszone przez rząd i obywateli propozycje zmian w systemie finansowania zadań oświatowych JST nie wskazują ani na procedurę wdrażania oczekiwanych korekt finansowych, ani na źródło ich finansowego pokrycia, natomiast skutki ekonomiczne proponowanych zmian są jedynie eksponowane w samorządowych koncepcjach. Sytuacja ta nie sprzyja wypracowaniu spójnego modelu finansowania zadań oświatowych w Polsce w warunkach reformowania tego systemu.
EN
Since 2016 changes in the system of education in Poland have been planned. These changes cannot be effectively implemented without appropriate changes in the public finance system. The organisation and funding of education in Poland is in vast majority executed by local government units which are responsible for the quality and scope of education services provided in a given area. Therefore, the problem of education funding is of interest to many environments. The plans of the education system reform have generated even bigger interest in these issues. The aim of this article is to assess the proposed changes in the system of education funding with regard to the concepts put forward by the representatives of three bodies: the government, local governments and citizens. The analysis included the assessment of the scope of the changes in the education funding system, sources of funding for these changes and their economic outcomes. The analysis has shown that the proposals regarding changes in funding educational tasks by local government units put forward by the government and citizens do not indicate either the procedure for implementing the expected changes or the source of funding for them, while the prospective economic outcome of the proposed changes is only included in the concepts proposed by local governments. Consequently, this situation is not conducive to developing a coherent model of funding educational tasks in Poland with the reform of the system of education in progress.
Wsparcie finansowe jednostek samorządu terytorialnego (jst) w zakresie merytorycznego opracowania metodyki budżetu zadaniowego jest warunkiem sine qua non powodzenia zmian w podejściu do wydatkowania środków publicznych. W ramach programu operacyjnego Kapitał ludzki (POKL) 2007–2013 zostały zaplanowane środki unijne na wsparcie eksperckie dla jst zainteresowanych wdrożeniem budżetu zadaniowego. Celem artykułu była próba zaprezentowania braku wykorzystania tych szans unijnych na przykładzie projektu systemowego oraz projektów konkursowych w ramach POKL. Do sformułowania oceny wykorzystano literaturę przedmiotu, materiały Ministerstwa Finansów oraz obserwacje własne z pracy eksperta z listy Ministerstwa Rozwoju Regionalnego do oceny wniosków unijnych w ramach priorytetu V POKL. Wskazano także rekomendacje dotyczące wykorzystania środków unijnych na implementację budżetu zadaniowego w jst w latach 2014–2020.
EN
The financial support of local government units (LGU) in the substantive development of a methodology for performance budgeting is a sine qua non condition for the success of these changes in the approach to public spending. The Human Capital Operational Programme (HCOP) from 2007 to 2013 allocated EU funds for the expert assistance of local governments interested in implementing performance budgeting. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the inadequate use of opportunities offered by the European Union using the examples of asystemic project as well as competition projects implemented within the Human Capital Operational Programme. The assessment is based on the subject literature, Ministry of Finance materials as well as personal experience being one of the experts for the Polish Ministry of Regional Development for assessing project applications under HCOP Priority V. The paper also includes recommendations regarding the use of EU funds for the implementation of performance budgeting in local government units in the years 2014–2020.
Globalization, negative demographic trends, new sources of knowledge and volatile job market are the determining factors behind the change in approach to the education system in Poland. Formal, non-formal and informal education is the sine qua non of the implementation of a knowledge-based economy in Poland. This process, however, requires an in-depth analysis of the funding of education. So far there have been no Polish publications analyzing the funding of the three aforementioned forms of education. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to assess the possibilities to implement knowledge-based economy with regard to the current funding of formal, non-formal and informal education in Poland. The study involved the analysis of national and EU documents on subject and object oriented funding of educational tasks and procedures for determining the amount of funding allocated to these tasks. The analysis showed that the barrier inhibiting the implementation of knowledge-based economy is the lack of legal regulations enabling the implementation of new solutions for financing education in Poland. These solutions involve the effective joint funding from the state budget, local government budgets and private funds (provided by employers and learners). This requires urgent conceptual work and initiating implementation projects in the area of public finance in Poland.
Rozwój odpowiedzialny to rozwój, w którym istotne jest odpowiednie kształtowanie relacji pomiędzy konkurencyjnością gospodarki, dbałością o środowisko oraz jakością życia. Strategię na rzecz Odpowiedzialnego Rozwoju opracowuje rząd w celu wyznaczenia kierunków działań służących osiągnięciu zamierzonych celów politycznych w tym zakresie. Realizacji tej Strategii służą m.in. narzędzia o charakterze finansowym, w tym fundusze unijne. Zarówno z poznawczego jak i aplikacyjnego punktu widzenia interesującym aspektem jest kwestia planowania funduszy unijnych na lata 2021–2027. Analiza tego zagadnienia w kontekście realizacji Strategii na rzecz Odpowiedzialnego Rozwoju jest szczególnie istotna w okresie projektowania tych funduszy. Celem artykułu jest ocena możliwości wykorzystania projektowanych na lata 2021–2027 funduszy UE w realizacji Strategii na rzecz Odpowiedzialnego Rozwoju w Polsce. W artykule zastosowano metodę krytycznej analizy dokumentów obejmujących zarówno źródła o charakterze legislacyjnym (Wnioski Rozporządzenie Parlamentu Europejskiego i Rady), jak i komentarzowym. Przedmiotem analiz są trzy wybrane fundusze UE: Europejski Fundusz Rozwoju Regionalnego (EFRR), Fundusz Spójności (FS) oraz Europejski Fundusz Społeczny Plus (EFS+). Za wyborem wyżej wymienionych funduszy zadecydowało z jednej strony ich historyczne umocowanie w strukturze wsparcia unijnego (EFRR i FS), jak i projektowane zintegrowane podejście do EFS+. Wyniki analiz są zaprezentowane w normatywnym ujęciu ekonomii. Wyniki badań wskazują, iż rola funduszy UE 2021–2027 w realizacji Strategii na rzecz Odpowiedzialnego Rozwoju nie została wystarczająco wyeksponowana. Dotyczy to zarówno braku: – uwzględnienia zmian w konstrukcji EFRR, FS oraz EFS+ ; – synchronizacji zakresów interwencji w Strategii z obszarem wsparcia z funduszy UE; – oceny skutków finansowych dla budżetu państwa i budżetów samorządowych przy aplikowaniu o te fundusze w nowym programowaniu unijnym.
EN
Responsible development is development driven by suitable relations between the competitiveness of the economy, care for the environment and quality of life. The Strategy for Responsible Development is drawn up by the government in order to set directions for actions intended to achieve the intended policy objectives in this area. The implementation of this strategy requires, for example, financial tools, including EU funds. Programming of EU funds for the years 2021–2027 is worth analysing for both pragmatic and theoretical reasons. This analysis is particularly important in the context of implementing a Strategy of Responsible Development for the period of EU fund programming. The aim of this paper is to assess the possibilities of using the EU funds proposed for years 2021–2027 to implement a Strategy of Responsible Development in Poland. The article uses a method based on the critical analysis of documents covering legislative sources (Conclusions of the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council) as well as commentaries. Three EU funds were selected for analysis: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cohesion Fund (CF) and European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). The aforementioned funds were selected due to their historical anchoring in the structure of EU support (ERDF and CF) and the proposed integrated approach to ESF+. The results of analyses are presented from a normative economics perspective. The study shows that the role of EU Funds 2021–2027 in implementing the Strategy for Responsible Development has not been sufficiently exposed. This applies to lacks in: – taking into account changes in construction of the ERDF, CF, ESF+; – synchronization of the scope of intervention in the Strategy with the area of support from EU funds; – assessment of financial effects for state and local government budgets when applying for these funds in the new EU programming.
Internacjonalizacja procesu kształcenia na poziomie wyższym oraz integracja gospodarcza wywarły znaczący wpływ na politykę poszczególnych państw w stosunku do szkolnictwa wyższego, w tym zwłaszcza w obszarze publicznych form inwestowania. Pomimo faktu, iż sfera edukacji nie podlega regulacjom wynikającym z członkostwa poszczególnych państw w Unii Europejskiej, niepodważalnym jest, iż poszczególne państwa członkowskie wpływają na prowadzenie polityki wspólnotowej w taki sposób, aby uwzględniano w niej potrzeby edukacyjne, w tym szkolnictwa wyższego. Finansowym przejawem prowadzenia polityki wspólnotowej jest budżet UE. Celem niniejszego opracowania jest ukazanie funduszy UE jako istotnego czynnika wpływającego na inwestycje w sektorze szkolnictwa wyższego w Polsce, poprzez skorelowanie intensywności tychże funduszy z m.in. nakładami inwestycyjnymi szkół wyższych w Polsce. Źródłem danych niezbędnych do przeprowadzenia badań były przede wszystkim raporty GUS (w tym publikacja Szkoły wyższe i ich finanse), jak też studium literatury przedmiotu.
EN
The internationalization of higher education and economic integration have a significant impact on higher education policy of particular states, especially in the area of the public investment. Despite the fact that education is not subject to regulations that result from EU membership, it is obvious that particular member-states influence the EU policy so that it should take into consideration the needs of education, higher education including. The EU budget reflects the financial policy of the Community. The aim of the paper is to present EU funds as a significant impact factor on investment in the sector of higher education in Poland by correlating the intensity of the funds with – among other elements – the investments of the schools of higher education. The data necessary for the investigation were obtained mainly from the reports of the Central Office of Statistics (GUS), (including the publication Szkoły wyższe i ich finanse (Higher Education Institutions and their Finances), as well as from the study of the literature on the subject.
Indywidualny wskaźnik zadłużenia (IWZ) limituje możliwość obciążania spłatą długu budżety jednostek samorządu terytorialnego. Obowiązująca od 2014 r. konstrukcja IWZ wzbudza kontrowersję, na ile limit prawny odpowiada faktycznej zdolności kredytowej JST. Wagę tej problematyki podkreśla fakt, iż zagadnienie to jest kluczowe dla funkcjonowania ponad 2000 JST w Polsce. Zagadnienie to zasługuje na uwagę także i z tego względu, że kwestia zadłużenia w polskich samorządach jest m.in. powiązana z okresem programowania unijnego i związanym z tym rozmachem inwestycyjnym. W literaturze przedmiotu brak jest analiz z tego zakresu uwzględniających programowanie unijne od 2014 r. Dlatego też celem artykułu jest próba odpowiedzi na pytanie: na ile IWZ odpowiada rzeczywistej zdolności kredytowej samorządu. Realizacja celu została przeprowadzona w oparciu o analizę Wieloletnich Prognoz Finansowych JST z województwa małopolskiego (system besti@) w latach 2014–2017. Analiza została ukierunkowana na ocenę krytyczną uwzględnienia w konstrukcji IWZ: 1) Dochodów ze sprzedaży majątku. 2) Wyjątków wprowadzonych w celu umożliwienia JST absorpcji środków unijnych przy obowiązującym w danym roku limicie prawnym. Wyniki przeprowadzonych analiz wskazują na: 1) Konieczność wyeliminowania z konstrukcji IWZ składnika dotyczącego sprzedaży majątku (w zamian umożliwić JST spłatę długu przewyższającą wielkości wynikające z obliczonego IWZ do wysokości uzyskanych dochodów ze sprzedaży majątku w roku, w którym taka sprzedaż nastąpiła). 2) Rozbieżność pomiędzy faktyczną zdolnością kredytową JST a limitem prawnym IWZ obliczonym z uwzględnieniem wyłączeń ustawowych.
EN
Individual debt ratio (IDR) limits the ability to burden the budgets of local government units (LGUs) with debt. The formula for calculating IDR, applicable since 2014, raises controversy as to how much the legal debt limit corresponds to the actual creditworthiness of individual local government units. This issue is crucial for the functioning of over 2000 local governments in Poland. It deserves attention also due to the fact that the indebtedness of Polish self-governments is inter alia connected with the EU programming period and the related investment spree. The available literature does not provide analyzes covering this area and taking into account the EU programming since 2014. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to answer the question: to what extent the IDR corresponds to the real creditworthiness of a local self-government. In order to meet this objective the paper provides the analysis of Multi-annual Financial Forecasts of LGUs from the Małopolskie province (besti@ system) in 2014–2017. The analysis focuses on the critical assessment of the following variables included in the IDR formula: 1) Income from the sale of assets. 2) Exceptions introduced in order to enable local government units to absorb EU funds and comply with the legal debt limit applicable in a given year. The carried out analyzes have led to the following conclusions: 1) It is necessary to eliminate the asset sales component from the IDR formula and instead, enable LGUs to repay the debt exceeding the limit resulting from the calculated IDR to the amount of income gained from the sale of assets in the year in which such sale took place. 2) There is a discrepancy between the actual LGU’s creditworthiness and the legal debt limit based on IDR formula including statutory exemptions.
This paper aims to identify the effect of macroprudential policies and microprudential regulations and their interactions on the sensitivity of leverage and liquidity funding risk to the business cycle. Analysing the sample of 782 banks we find that both macroprudential and microprudential instruments have insignificant impact on the procyclicality of leverage in the non-crisis period. Macroprudential instruments decrease the procyclicality of liquidity risk during the non-crisis period and increase the procyclicality of leverage during the crisis. Restrictions on the range of activities conducted by banks reduce the procyclicality of liquidity risk during the non-crisis period. Interaction between the macroprudential instruments targeted at risk-taking by borrowers and restrictions on the range of activities taken by banks has been found to be effective in reducing the procyclicality of leverage during the crisis period.
This paper aims to identify the role of bank size for the sensitivity of leverage and liquidity funding risk to their determinants (both bank-specific and macroeconomic). Applying the two-step robust GMM estimator to individual bank data from over 60 countries covering the period 2000–2011 our study shows that increases in previous period funding liquidity risk are associated with increases in leverage in the full sample and in large banks, but not in other banks. The liquidity of large banks tends also to increase with leverage levels. With reference to the impact of macroeconomic conditions on leverage of banks we find that leverage of large banks is the most procyclical during a crisis period. Liquidity risk is procyclical during non-crisis periods. However, during a crisis period this liquidity risk is countercyclical, consistent with the view that even slight improvements in macroeconomic environment do not stimulate banks to increase their exposure to this risk. Such effect is particularly strong in the case of large banks. Generally, such counter-cyclicality of liquidity risk of large banks may result in weaker access to the bank financing necessary to stimulate investments in the real economy during a crisis period. This may have further negative consequences for the real economy, generating an extended period of sluggish economic growth.
This article examines the impact of bank capital ratios on cooperative banks’ lending by comparing differences in loan growth to differences in capital ratios at sets of banks that are clustered based on capital ratio size. Applying a fixed-effects estimator to a sample of cooperative banks operating in Poland and using a unique quarterly dataset covering the period of 2000:1-2012:4, we find that loans’ growth is particularly capitalconstrained in poorly-capitalized banks, but only in non-recessionary ones. Lending of poorly capitalized banks is strongly affected by the interest rate margin, which is also important in determining the loans’ growth of medium and large cooperative banks. Generally the results add support to the view that small banks, such as cooperative banks, are not capital-constrained in recessionary periods, thus their customers do not suffer from the capital crunch in unfavourable macroeconomic conditions. However, their lending activity is procyclical, because increases in the unemployment rate result in decreases in the loans’ growth of cooperative banks in Poland.
PL
Artykuł analizuje wpływ współczynnika kapitałowego na aktywność kredytową banków spółdzielczych, biorąc pod uwagę stopień dokapitalizowania tych banków. W badaniu zastosowano estymator z ustalonymi efektami stałymi na próbie danych kwartalnych dotyczących banków spółdzielczych w Polsce w okresie 2000:1-2012:4 i zidentyfikowano, że stopa wzrostu kredytów jest szczególnie wrażliwa na współczynnik kapitałowy w przypadku słabo dokapitalizowanych banków, przede wszystkim w okresie ożywienia. Aktywność kredytowa banków słabo dokapitalizowanych jest również bardzo wrażliwa na wskaźnik marży odsetkowej netto. Efekt ten utrzymuje się również w przypadku pozostałych banków. Ogólnie wyniki badania dają podstawę do stwierdzenia, że aktywność kredytowa małych lokalnych banków, którymi zazwyczaj są banki spółdzielcze, nie jest ograniczona przez współczynniki adekwatności kapitałowej w okresie recesji. Zatem ich klienci nie odczuwają skutków kryzysu kapitałowego w niesprzyjających uwarunkowaniach makroekonomicznych. Jednakże aktywność kredytowa tych banków jest procykliczna, ponieważ przy wzroście stopy bezrobocia następuje spadek stopy wzrostu kredytów banków spółdzielczych w Polsce.
Health policy as a process and as activities in the sphere of public responsibility may cause different evaluation problems but at the same time the proper and reliable assessment should be understood as the essential interest of the engaged stakeholders: government at different levels, payers, providers and patients as well. The paper concerns the problem of difficulties influencing the research focused on the health policy description aiming at the indication of the most important factors, effects, possible development dimensions that may significantly change the health system. The methodology in this case is also a complicated issue: quite often based on the instruments typical for social disciplines but not completely applicable for the presented subject. The paper describes the new innovative and universal tool for the purpose of the analysis aiming at reliable and comparable health policy assessment, it presents the stages and objectives of such evaluation and the perspectives of the HPA matrix development both for research and for didactic purposes.
In this paper we ask about the role of macroprudential policies to affect the link between lending and capital ratio in countries differing in economic development and capital account openness. To resolve this problem we apply the GMM 2-step Blundell and Bond approach to a sample covering over 60 countries. Our results show that the effect of macroprudential policies on the association between lending and the capital ratio in non-crisis periods is stronger in advanced countries than in emerging countries. Differentiating by the level of capital account openness, we find that macroprudential policies are more effective in increasing the resilience of banks and thus weakening the association between loan supply and capital ratio for relatively closed economies but less effective for relatively open economies. Generally, with our study we are able to support the view that macroprudential policy has the potential to curb the procyclical impact of bank capital on lending.
In this paper we explore several new factors which may affect the procyclicality of loan-loss provisions. In particular, we test whether there are visible differences in sensitivity of loan-loss provisions to the business cycle between commercial and cooperative banks as well as between large, medium and small banks. We also aim to find out whether the level of bank capital ratio and the application of discretionary income-smoothing affect procyclicality of loan-loss provisions. Our results show that loan-loss provisions of banks are procyclical. This procyclicality is particularly visible and stronger in the sample of commercial banks. We also find that loan-loss provisions of large banks are more negatively affected by the business cycle than those of medium or small banks. We show that banks with low capital ratios exhibit increased procyclicality of loan-loss provisions. And finally, we also find empirical evidence that banks with a greater degree of discretionary income-smoothing have loan-loss provisions more negatively affected by the business cycle, and thus more procyclical.
We analyze the effectiveness of various macroprudential policy instruments in reducing the procyclicality of loan-loss provisions (LLPs) using individual bank information from over 65 countries and applying the two-step GMM Blundell-Bond (1998) approach with robust standard errors. Our research identifies several new facts. Firstly, borrower restrictions are definitely more effective in reducing the procyclicality of loan-loss provisions than other macroprudential policy instruments. This effect is supported in both unconsolidated and consolidated data and is robust to several robustness checks. Secondly, dynamic provisions, large exposure concentration limits and taxes on specific assets are effective in reducing the procyclicality of loan-loss provisions. And finally, we find that both loan-to-value caps and debt-to-income ratios, are especially effective in reducing the procyclicality of LLP of large banks. Off-balance-sheet restrictions, concentration limits and taxes are also effective in reducing the procyclicality of LLP of large banks. Dynamic provisions reduce the procyclicality of LLP independently of bank size.
In this paper we ask about the capacity of macroprudential policies to reduce the positive association between loans growth and the capital ratio. We focus on aggregated macroprudential policy measures and on individual instruments and test whether their effect on the association between lending and capital depends on bank size, the economic development of a country as well as on the extent of capital account openness. Applying the GMM 2-step Blundell and Bond approach to a sample covering over 60 countries, we find that macroprudential policy instruments reduce the impact of capital on bank lending during both crisis and non-crisis times. This result is stronger in large banks than in other banks. Of individual macroprudential instruments, only borrower-targeted LTV caps and DTI ratio weaken the association between lending and capital. Our results also show that the effect of macroprudential policies on the association between lending and the capital ratio in non-crisis periods is stronger in advanced countries than in emerging countries. Additionally, differentiating by the level of capital account openness, we find that macroprudential policies are more effective in increasing the resilience of banks and thus weakening the association between loan supply and capital ratio for relatively closed economies but less effective for relatively open economies. Generally, with our study we are able to support the view that macroprudential policy has the potential to curb the procyclical impact of bank capital on lending and therefore, the introduction of more restrictive international capital standards included in Basel III and of macroprudential policies are fully justified.
This paper aims to find out how intense is the competition in Polish commercial banks loan market. Using Panzar – Rosse H-statistics and applying several estimation techniques (GLS, one-step GMM and two-step GMM) we find that this intensity is sensitive to the estimator applied. Upon analysis of results, one can conclude that competition evolves differently across years in Poland. In some years, competition was relatively high, as the H-statistics reached the level of 0.75, which is relatively close to perfect competition. In other years it gradually decreased reaching its bottom line in 2010, and took upward trend in 2011 and 2012. Generally, the values of our competitive environment measure indicate at monopolistic competition in Poland.
This paper aims to find out what the impact is of bank capital ratios on loan supply in the EU and what factors explain the potential diversity of this impact. Applying the Blundell and Bond (1998) two step GMM estimator, we show that, in the EU context, the role of capital ratio for loan growth is stronger than previous literature has found for other countries. Our study sheds some light on whether procyclicality of loan loss provisions and income smoothing with loan loss provisions contribute to procyclical impact of capital ratio on loan growth. We document that loan growth of banks that have more procyclical loan loss provisions and that engage less in income smoothing is more sensitive to capital ratios. This sensitivity is slightly increased in this sample of banks during contractions. Moreover, more restrictive regulations and more stringent official supervision reduce the magnitude of the effect of capital ratio on bank lending. Taken together, our results suggest that capital ratios are an important determinant of lending in large EU banks.
This paper extends the literature on the capital crunch effect by examining the role of public policy for the link between lending and capital in a sample of large banks operating in the European Union. Applying Blundell and Bond (1998) two-step robust GMM estimator we show that restrictions on bank activities and more stringent capital standards weaken the capital crunch effect, consistent with reduced risk taking and boosted bank charter values. Official supervision also reduces the impact of capital ratio on lending in downturns. Private oversight seems to be related to thin capital buffers in expansions, and therefore the capital crunch effect is enhanced in countries with increased market discipline. We thus provide evidence that neither regulations nor supervision at the microprudential level is neutral from a financial stability perspective. Weak regulations and supervision seem to increase the pro-cyclical effect of capital on bank lending.
This paper extends the literature on the link between lending and capital by examining the role of equity ownership structure for this link in banks operating in the European Union. As theory predicts, publiclytraded banks are more prone to heightened agency problems (moral hazard and adverse selection) due to dispersed ownership and therefore have stronger incentives to engage in excessive risk-taking especially in economic expansions. This may bring about procyclical lending effect in economic downturns. Theory also predicts that these banks are also more affected by capital market frictions in economic downturns. Applying Blundell and Bond (1998) two step robust GMM estimator we predict and find that the link between lending and capital in economic downturns is stronger in publicly-traded banks than in privately- held banks, which may be a result of greater conditional accounting conservatism of publicly-traded banks. Additionally, the link between lending and capital during expansions is stronger in the case of privately- held banks reporting unconsolidated data, but not for banks reporting consolidated financial reports, consistent with the view that limited access to capital markets increases the cost of external finance of private banks. Finally, we find empirical support for the view that lending of privately- held banks is not constrained by capital ratio in economic downturns. Our results stress the importance of conditional conservatism for the effectiveness macroprudential policy, in particular countercyclical capital buffers.
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