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Local banking panics of the 1920s: Identification and determinants

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  • Davison, Lee K.
  • Ramirez, Carlos D.

Abstract

Using a newly discovered dataset of U.S. bank suspensions from 1921 to 1929, we discovered that banking panics were more common in the 1920s than had been believed. Besides identifying panics, we investigate their determinants, finding that local banking panics were more likely when fundamental economic conditions were generally weak and more likely in “overbanked” states; they were less likely in states with deposit insurance or states where a relatively large share of banks belonged to chain banking organizations.

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  • Davison, Lee K. & Ramirez, Carlos D., 2014. "Local banking panics of the 1920s: Identification and determinants," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 164-177.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:66:y:2014:i:c:p:164-177
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2014.05.001
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hubert J. Kiss & Ismael Rodriguez-Lara & Alfonso Rosa-Garcia, 2022. "Experimental bank runs," Chapters, in: Sascha Füllbrunn & Ernan Haruvy (ed.), Handbook of Experimental Finance, chapter 25, pages 347-361, Edward Elgar Publishing.
      • Hubert J. Kiss & Ismael Rodriguez-Lara & Alfonso Rosa-Garcia, 2021. "Experimental Bank Runs," ThE Papers 21/03, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    3. Toni Ricardo Eugenio dos Santos & Marcio Issao Nakane, 2021. "Dynamic bank runs: an agent-based approach," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 16(3), pages 675-703, July.
    4. Kiss, Hubert János & Rodriguez-Lara, Ismael & Rosa-García, Alfonso, 2015. "Kognitív képességek és stratégiai bizonytalanság egy bankrohamkísérletben [Cognitive abilities and strategic uncertainty in a bank-run experiment]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 1030-1047.
    5. Jaremski, Matthew & Wheelock, David C., 2020. "The Founding of the Federal Reserve, the Great Depression, and the Evolution of the U.S. Interbank Network," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(1), pages 69-99, March.
    6. Kris James Mitchener & Gary Richardson, 2020. "Contagion of Fear," NBER Working Papers 26859, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Serkan Karadas & Nilufer Ozdemir, 2023. "Does Public Corruption Affect Bank Failures? Evidence from the United States," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-20, October.
    8. Marodin, Fabrizio Almeida & Mitchener, Kris James & Richardson, Gary, 2024. "Contagion of fear: Panics, money, and the Great Depression," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    9. Gergely Horváth & Hubert János Kiss, 2016. "Correlated Observations, the Law of Small Numbers and Bank Runs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-29, April.
    10. Kris James Mitchener & Gary Richardson, 2019. "Network Contagion and Interbank Amplification during the Great Depression," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(2), pages 465-507.
    11. Kiss, Hubert J. & Rodriguez-Lara, Ismael & Rosa-Garcia, Alfonso, 2022. "Preventing (panic) bank runs," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    12. Dávila, Eduardo & Walther, Ansgar, 2020. "Does size matter? Bailouts with large and small banks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 1-22.
    13. Hubert Janos Kiss & Ismael Rodriguez-Lara & Alfonso Rosa-Garcia, 2018. "Who runs first to the bank?," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1826, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    14. Kiss, Hubert János & Rodriguez-Lara, Ismael & Rosa-Garcia, Alfonso, 2022. "Who withdraws first? Line formation during bank runs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    15. Jan Libich & Dat Thanh Nguyen & Hubert Janos Kiss, 2023. "Running Out of Bank Runs," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 1-39, August.
    16. Balazs Vilagi, 2023. "The Reasons Behind Banking Crises and their Real Economy Impact - Achievements of the 2022 Nobel Laureates in Economics," Financial and Economic Review, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary), vol. 22(1), pages 126-142.
    17. Colvin, Christopher L., 2017. "Banking on a Religious Divide: Accounting for the Success of the Netherlands' Raiffeisen Cooperatives in the Crisis of the 1920s," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(3), pages 866-919, September.

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