Project Title: Earnings Management and Bank Capital
Project Summary: This project considers the role of earnings management in generating incentives for financial institutions to carry risk on their balance sheet. The role of mark-to-market accounting and asset sales have been emphasized as a problem for restructuring loan portfolios and recapitalizing banks, but there is less investigation of this channel in creating balance sheet problems in the first place. We believe this hypothesis is underemphasized in the crisis and efforts at reform.
Project Period: 13.1.2013-31.7.2014