Our Team

John R. Walter

John Walter was a senior economist and policy advisor in the Research Department at Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Walter worked at the Richmond Fed from 1981 to 2019.

Academic Publications

How Large is the Federal Financial Safety Net?

Cato Journal, Vol. 21, Winter 2002: 369-393

John R. Walter and John A. Weinberg
Working Papers

February 2018, No. 18-06R

On the Measurement of Large Financial Firm Resolvability (Revised July 2018)

Arantxa Jarque, John R. Walter and Jackson Evert

May 2015, No. 15-05

Did the Financial Reforms of the Early 1990s Fail? A Comparison of Bank Failures and FDIC Losses in the 1986-92 and 2007-13 Periods

Eliana Balla, Edward S. Prescott and John R. Walter

November 2013, No. 13-19R

mREITs and Their Risks (Revised December 2013)

Sabrina R. Pellerin, Steven Sabol and John R. Walter

March 2010, No. 10-03R

How Large Has the Federal Financial Safety Net Become? (Revised February 2013)

Nadezhda Malysheva and John R. Walter

May 2009, No. 09-8

The Consolidation of Financial Market Regulation: Pros, Cons, and Implications for the United States

Sabrina R. Pellerin, John R. Walter and Patricia E. Wescott
Bank Publications

Economic Quarterly, First Quarter 2019

US Bank Capital Regulation: History and Changes Since the Financial Crisis

John R. Walter

Economic Brief, January 2019, No. 19-01

It's a Wonderful Loan: A Short History of Building and Loan Associations

Prior to the advent of modern home mortgage markets in the United States, markets in which mortgage-backed securities and government-sponsored enterprises now play significant roles, prospective homebuyers had to rely on other mechanisms of home finance.

David A. Price and John R. Walter

Economic Brief, June 2018, No. 18-06

Assessing Large Financial Firm Resolvability

The choice between bankruptcy or bailout trades off different sets of costs on the economy. This Economic Brief presents a new tool that could assist policymakers with this evaluation, potentially helping to curb the "too big to fail" problem, serving as a useful complement to the "living wills" process, and making the resolution process more transparent.

Renee Haltom, Arantxa Jarque and John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 2016

Private Efforts for Affordable Mortgage Lending Before Fannie and Freddie

David A. Price and John R. Walter

Economic Brief, May 2016, No. 16-05

Do Net Interest Margins and Interest Rates Move Together?

As a way to understand the origins of this expectation, in this Economic Brief we look at the relationship between the federal funds rate and the average net interest margin for U.S. banks since the mid-1980s. We find that the relationship is not as clear-cut as one might suspect.

Huberto M. Ennis, Helen Fessenden and John R. Walter

Economic Brief, January 2016, No. 16-01

Understanding the New Liquidity Coverage Ratio Requirements

Mark House, Tim Sablik and John R. Walter

Economic Brief, June 2015, No. 15-06

Did Banking Reforms of the Early 1990s Fail? Lessons from Comparing Two Banking Crises

Eliana Balla, Helen Fessenden, Edward S. Prescott and John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Third Quarter 2013

MBS Real Estate Investment Trusts: A Primer

Sabrina R. Pellerin, Steven Sabol and John R. Walter

Economic Brief, November 2013, No. 13-11

Assessing the Risks of Mortgage REITs

Sabrina R. Pellerin, David A. Price, Steven Sabol and John R. Walter

Economic Brief, September 2012, No. 12-09

Can Orderly Liquidation Solve the Problems of Bailouts and Bankruptcies?

Betty Joyce Nash, Sabrina R. Pellerin and John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, First Quarter 2012

Orderly Liquidation Authority as an Alternative to Bankruptcy

Sabrina R. Pellerin and John R. Walter

Economic Brief, April 2011, No. 11-04

Identifying Systemically Important Financial Institutions

David A. Price and John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Third Quarter 2010

How Large Has the Federal Financial Safety Net Become?

Nadezhda Malysheva and John R. Walter

Economic Brief, December 2009, No. 09-12

The Effect of Interest on Reserves on Monetary Policy

John R. Walter and Renee Haltom

Economic Quarterly, Spring 2009

The Consolidation of Financial Regulation: Pros, Cons, and Implications for the United States

Sabrina R. Pellerin, John R. Walter and Patricia E. Wescott

Economic Brief, December 2008, No. 08-03

Turmoil in the Student Loan Market

John R. Walter and Samuel E. Henly

Economic Quarterly, Winter 2008

Antitrust Analysis in Banking: Goals, Methods, and Justifications in a Changed Environment

John R. Walter and Patricia E. Wescott

Economic Quarterly, Fall 2006

Not Your Father's Credit Union

John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Winter 2006

The 3-6-3 Rule: An Urban Myth?

John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Winter 2005

Depression-Era Bank Failures: The Great Contagion or the Great Shakeout?

John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Winter 2004

Closing Troubled Banks: How the Process Works

John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Spring 2003

Banking and Commerce: Tear Down This Wall?

John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Spring 2002

What Can Price Theory Say about the Community Reinvestment Act?

John R. Walter and Robert L. Lacy

Economic Quarterly, Winter 1999

Pooling or Purchase: A Merger Mystery

John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Winter 1998

Can a Safety Net Subsidy Be Contained?

John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Fall 1996

Firewalls

John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Fall 1995

The Fair Lending Laws and Their Enforcement

John R. Walter

Economic Quarterly, Fall 1994

Were Bank Examiners Too Strict with New England and California Banks?

John R. Walter and Robert M. Darin

Economic Review, Jul/Aug, 1991

Loan Loss Reserves

John R. Walter

Economic Review, Jul/Aug, 1990

Fifth District Bank Performance 1989

John R. Walter and Donald L. Welker

Economic Review, Nov/Dec, 1989

Top Performing Small Banks: Making Money the Old-Fashioned Way

Benton E. Gup and John R. Walter

Economic Review, May/Jun, 1989

Fifth District Banks' Return on Assets: Highest in Decade

John R. Walter and Donald L. Welker

Economic Review, Jan/Feb, 1989

Monetary Aggregates: A User's Guide

John R. Walter

Economic Review, Jul/Aug, 1988

A Review of Bank Performance in the Fifth District, 1987

David L. Mengle and John R. Walter

Economic Review, Jul/Aug, 1987

A Review of Bank Performance in the Fifth District, 1986

David L. Mengle and John R. Walter

Economic Review, Nov/Dec, 1986

Short-Term Municipal Securities

John R. Walter

Economic Review, Jul/Aug, 1986

A Review of Bank Performance in the Fifth District, 1985

David L. Mengle and John R. Walter

Economic Review, Jul/Aug, 1985

A Review of Bank Performance in the Fifth District, 1984

David L. Mengle and John R. Walter

Economic Review, Jul/Aug, 1983

A Review of Bank Performance in the Fifth District, 1982

John R. Walter

Economic Review, Mar/Apr, 1982

The Competition for Transaction Accounts

Walter A. Varvel and John R. Walter
Bailout Barometer
The Richmond Fed has studied the risks created by government guarantees of financial institution liabilities since at least the late 1980s and started estimating the size of this "federal financial safety net" in 1999. John Walter, along with Liz Marshall and Sabrina Pellerin, calculated and published these estimates in various forms between 2002 and 2017.
- Overview and 2017 estimate
- History and past estimates

Research Department