Norges Bank

Bent Vale

Special Advisor

Contact:

Tel.: +47 90 19 32 72
E-mail: bent.vale@norges-bank.no

Norges Bank
P.O. Box 1179 Sentrum
0107 Oslo
Norway

Research interests

Financial stability, more specifically bank behaviour, both empirical and theoretical. His research focuses on (i) banks' risk taking in competitive credit markets and market discipline, (ii) corporate governance in banking, (iii) economies of scale in banking, (iii) switching costs in credit markets, and (iv) the Norwegian banking crisis.

Bent Vale works in the Financial Stability Department

Vale has been with Norges Bank since February 1988. He has his PhD in economics from the University of Oslo in 1992.

Some recent research

"Bank Lending Channel during an Exogenous Liquidity Shock"  (with Gøril Havro)

"Social capital and the viability of stakeholder-oriented firms: Evidence from Norwegian savings banks" (with Charlotte Østergaard (BI), Ibolya Schindele (BI)), Review of Finance, vol. 20 (5) 2016, pp. 1673-1718.

Education and degrees

1992 Dr.Polit in Economics at the University of Oslo (defended March 13th, 1992).
''Four Essays on Asymmetric Information in Credit Markets''
1982 Master of Economics, University of Oslo

Employment

2015 - Special advisor, Financial Stability Department (Central bank of Norway)
2014 Secondment, DG Macro Prudential Policy and Financial Stability, European Central Bank
2011 - 2013 Special advisor, Financial Stability Department (Central bank of Norway)
2008-2010 Assistant director, Research department, Norges Bank (Central bank of Norway)
1996-2008 Head of Research, Research department, Norges Bank (Central bank of Norway)
1988-1996 Researcher, Research department, Norges Bank (Central bank of Norway)
1994-2002 Adjunct associate professor Norwegian School of Management (BI)
1993 Head of Office, Economic Policy Department, Norges Bank (Central bank of Norway)
1992-1994 Work for the Government Bank Insurance Fund (Norway)
1991 Part time associate professor, Department of Economics, University of Oslo
1983-1988 Research assistant and research fellow, Department of Economics, University of Oslo
1984-1985 First executive officer, Ministry of Finance (Norway)
1982 AIESEC Trainee, New Zealand Dairy Board

Fields of Specialization

  •  Banking, empirical and theoretical

Teaching and Evaluation

  • Banking crises resolution (undergraduate level), Oslo Metropolitan University (2020 and 2021)
  • Economics of banking (graduate level), University of Oslo (2010 and 2013)
  • Economics of banking (graduate level), Norwegian School of Management (BI) (1995-2002)
  • Macroeconomics (graduate course), University of Oslo (1991, 1992)
  • Macroeconomics (undergraduate), University of Oslo (1988, 1990)
  • Money and foreign exchange (undergraduate), Banking College/Norwegian School of Management (BI) (1986-1998)
  • Money and credit (graduate level), University of Oslo (1985)

Visits

  • Economics Department, Stanford University, January 1989-August 1989
  • Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
  • European Central Bank, DG Macroprudential Policy and Financial Stability

Personal

  • Born March 18, 1954, Oslo.
  • Nationality: Norwegian

Miscellaneous

  • Member of the Research Task Force of the Basel Committee, 2000- 2008, 2011- 2015

Published and Forthcoming Papers in Refereed Journals

  1. "Social capital and the viability of stakeholder-oriented firms: Evidence from Norwegian savings banks" (with Charlotte Østergaard (BI), Ibolya Schindele (BI)), Review of Finance, vol. 20 (5) 2016, pp. 1673-1718.
  2. "Life-Cycle Patterns of Interest Rate Markups in Small Firm Finance". (with Moshe Kim and Eirik Gaard Kristiansen) Scandinavian Journal of Economics, vol 114(2) 2012 pp. 629-657. 
  3. "Endogenous product differentiation in credit markets: What do borrowers pay for?". (with Moshe Kim and Eirik Gaard Kristiansen)
    in Journal of Banking and Finance, vol 29, 2005, pp. 681-699.
  4. "Scale economies, bank mergers and electronic payments: A spline function approach". (with David B. Humphrey)in Journal of Banking and Finance, vol 28, 2004, pp. 1671-1696.
  5. "Estimating switching costs: The case of banking". (with Moshe Kim and Doron Kliger)
    in Journal of Financial Intermediation, vol 12, 2003, pp. 25-56.
  6. "Firms' inventory investments, financial conditions and banking crisis".
    in Research in Banking and Finance - vol. 2 (Iftekhar Hassan and William C. Hunter, eds.) 2002, JAI Press.
  7. "Non-price strategic behavior: The case of bank branches" (with Moshe Kim)
    in International Journal of Industrial Organization vol. 19, 2001, pp. 1583-1602.
  8. "Realizing the Gains from Electronic Payments: Costs, Pricing, and Payment Choice" (with David B. Humphrey and Moshe Kim).
    in Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, vol. 33, 2001, pp. 216-234.
  9. "Finansmarkedenes rolle, penge- og valutapolitikken" (in Norwegian)
    in Norske finansmarkeder, norsk penge- og valutapolitikk (Bent Vale, ed.), Norges Banks Skriftserie, nr. 23, Norges Bank, 1995.
  10. "Private realinvesteringer og asymmetrisk informasjon - hvilke muligheter har norske myndigheter til å påvirke investeringene" (in Norwegian) .
    in Norsk Økonomisk Tidsskrift (NØT), vol. 108, 1994, pp. 271-300.
  11. "The Dual Role of Demand Deposits under Asymmetric Information"
    in Scandinavian Journal of Economics, vol. 95, 1993, pp. 77-95.
  12. "Effects on unemployment of reduced working time in an economy where firms set wages" (with Michael Hoel).
    in European Economic Review, vol. 30, 1986, pp. 1097-1104.

Other Publications

  1. The Norwegian banking crisis 
     In "The Norwegian Banking Crisis" edited by T.G. Moe, J.A. Solheim, and B. Vale. Norges Bank Occasional Papers No. 33, Norges Bank, 2004.
  2. Four Essays on Asymmetric Information in Credit Markets. Doctoral dissertation
    Norges Banks Skriftserie, no 20, Norges Bank, 1992.

Working Papers

  1. Resolving the financial crisis: are we heeding the lessons from the Nordics? (with Claudio Borio and Goetz von Peter) BIS Working Paper No 311.
  2. What determines banks’ market power? Akerlof versus Herfindahl (416 kB)
    (with Eirik Gaard Kristiansen and Moshe Kim) Working Paper 2005/8, Norges Bank. 
  3. Endogenous product differentiation in credit markets: What do borrowers pay for? (208 kB)
    (with Eirik Gaard Kristiansen and Moshe Kim) Working Paper 2001/8, Norges Bank. Replaced by article in Journal of Banking and Finance. See list above. 
  4. "Corporate taxation and equity constraints. On the non-neutrality of allegedly neutral taxation"
    Working Paper 1992/1, Norges Bank.
  5. "An example of economies of scope in banking under asymmetric information"
    Working Paper 1991/4, Norges Bank.
  6. "Reserve requirements, asymmetric information, credit rationing and screening costs"
    Working Paper 1990/6, Norges Bank.
  7. "Impact of central bank lending under asymmetric information in credit markets"
    Working Paper 1989/8, Norges Bank.
  8. "Makroøkonomisk stabilisering og kredittpolitikk - noen forenklinger og utvidelser av Leif Johansens modell" (in Norwegian)
    Working Paper 1988/9, Norges Bank.
Edited 1 April 2022 18:13