One interpretation of TBTF is that a big firm cannot (or is unlikely to) fail, simply because it is big. This, the argument goes, is because big firms benefit from the economies of scale and scope, which make them more efficient than small firms. A big firm is typically more diversified than a small firm, which puts the big firm in a superior competitive position and reduces its exposure to the risk of structural changes in the economy. A big firm also enjoys significant market power and a lower cost of capital. However, the common interpretation of TBTF is that it refers to a firm that is too big to be allowed (by the government) to fail. There is no agreement on what makes a particular firm TBTF and another firm not too big to fail (NTBTF).2
The global financial crisis has brought the TBTF debate back to centre stage. The crisis has made it clear that the TBTF doctrine amounts to saving financial institutions from their own mistakes by using taxpayers’ money – hence, the debate has a moral dimension. There is now a widespread belief that government bailout of failed financial institutions amounts to funneling funds into ‘parasitic operations’ at the cost of starving the productive base and infrastructure of financial resources. The crisis has also given rise to parallel notions, some of which are rather cynical. One of these notions is that of ‘too politically connected to fail’, as some would think that the decision whether or not to bail out a financial institution depends on how politically connected it is. Other cynical notions that crop up in the discussion of the TBTF issue include ‘too big to survive’, ‘so big that it has to fail’ and ‘too big to succeed’. These notions imply that size could be detrimental to the survival of a firm (diseconomies of scale and scope may materialise). And there is more, including ‘too big to fail is too big’, ‘too big to save’ and ‘too big for their boots’, implying that a firm that is TBTF must be prevented from becoming so big that it is either difficult or expensive to save.