We examine how the relationship between competition and risk-taking changes with the ex ante bank equity capital ratio. We show that competition in the banking market, on average, mitigates risk-taking by banks. This relationship, however, can be altered by a bank’s ex ante equity capital ratio. More specifically, when face with increased competition, banks with low ex ante equity capital ratios engage in relatively larger reductions in risk-taking. They do so primarily by decreasing the risk in their lending portfolios. In contrast, banks with high enough ex ante equity capital ratios might not reduce their risk-taking at all. (JEL G21, G32, O16, D40, G18)

中文翻译：

---

股权资本比率对竞争与银行风险承担行为关系的影响

我们研究了竞争和冒险之间的关系如何随着事前银行股本比率的变化而变化。我们表明，平均而言，银行市场的竞争会减轻银行的风险承担。然而，这种关系可以通过银行的事前股本比率来改变。更具体地说，当面临竞争加剧时，事前股本比率较低的银行会相对较大地减少风险承担。他们主要通过降低其贷款组合的风险来做到这一点。相比之下，事前股本比率足够高的银行可能根本不会降低风险承担。（杰尔 G21、G32、O16、D40、G18）