Kamil Macniak/ShutterstockWhen my dog Buddy ate a tub of chewing gum – around 60 pieces – we rushed him to the vet, where he stayed overnight. Thankfully he was fine. The same could not be said for our wallets.

When Iran began demanding payment in exchange for safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, it offered the option to pay in cryptocurrency. Likewise, the shadowy network of tankers that have smuggled Russian oil to world markets since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have often been paid this way.

We analyze how bank lending to non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) affects credit supply to the real economy. Using granular supervisory and loan-level data, we document rapid growth in bank lending to NBFIs relative to lending to non-financial firms. This growth is driven primarily by reverse repos to NBFIs that invest in securities, e.g., investment funds, rather than by loans to NBFIs that extend credit to firms, e.g., private credit funds.

Whether in sports, music or business, all-women teams earn less. Minnesota Lynx guard Renee Montgomery drives between Indiana Fever guards Layshia Clarendon, left, and Shenise Johnson at a WNBA game in Minneapolis.