This review essay examines whether too-big-to-fail is as serious a problem as Gary Stern and Ron
Feldman contend. This essay argues that Stern and Feldman overstate the importance of the too-bigto-
fail problem and do not give enough credit to the FDICIA legislation of 1991 for improving bank
regulation and supervision. However, this criticism of the Stern and Feldman book does not detract
from many of its messages. Even if the too-big-to-fail problem is not as serious as they contend, the
policies they outline can make it less likely that a banking crisis will occur even if driven by other
factors.
Frederic S. Mishkin
Graduate School of Business
Uris Hall 817
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
and NBER
fsm3@columbia.edu