On the effects of deposit insurance and observability on bank runs: an experimental study

• Hubert Janos Kiss ^[1] ; Ismael Rodríguez Lara ^[2] ; Alfonso Rosa García ^[3]
  1. [1] Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

     Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

     Madrid, España

     
  2. [2] Universitat de València

     Universitat de València

     Valencia, España

     
  3. [3] Universidad de Murcia

     Universidad de Murcia

     Murcia, España

     

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• Localización: Working papers = Documentos de trabajo: Serie AD, Nº. 5, 2011, págs. 1-22
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • We study the effects of deposit insurance and observability of previous actions on the emergence of bank runs by means of a controlled laboratory experiment. We consider three depositors in the line of a bank, who decide between withdrawing or keeping their money deposited. We have three treatments with different levels of deposit insurance which reflect the losses a depositor may incur in the case of a bank run. We find that different levels of deposit insurance and the possibility of observing other depositors' actions affect the likelihood of bank runs. When decisions are not observable, higher levels of deposit insurance decrease the probability of bank runs. When decisions are observable, this is not the case. These results suggest that (i) observability might be considered as a partial substitute of deposit insurance, and that (ii) the optimal deposit insurance should take into account the degree of observability.