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Credit availability and the collapse of the banking sector in the 1930s

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Abstract

This paper examines the mechanism through which banking sector distress affects the availability of credit. We use the experience of the United States during the Great Depression, a period of intense bank distress, to conduct our analysis. We utilize previously neglected data from a 1934 survey conducted by the Federal Reserve System of both banks and Chambers of Commerce regarding the availability of credit, and examine which aspects of the banking system collapse affected credit availability as indicated by the survey. A number of scholars have posited different ways that bank distress constrained credit availability and impacted economic activity during the 1930s; however, the empirical evidence regarding these channels is modest. In this study, we find that bank failures had the most dominant impact, but there is also some evidence for the importance of funding constraints from deposit outflows and of protracted deposit liquidation.

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  • Mark A. Carlson & Jonathan D. Rose, 2011. "Credit availability and the collapse of the banking sector in the 1930s," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2011-38, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2011-38
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    2. Sanjiv R. Das & Kris James Mitchener & Angela Vossmeyer, 2018. "Bank Regulation, Network Topology, and Systemic Risk: Evidence from the Great Depression," CESifo Working Paper Series 7425, CESifo.
    3. Mark A. Carlson & David C. Wheelock, 2012. "The lender of last resort: lessons from the Fed’s first 100 years," Working Papers 2012-056, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    4. Ben S. Bernanke, 2018. "The Real Effects of Disrupted Credit: Evidence from the Global Financial Crisis," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 49(2 (Fall)), pages 251-342.
    5. Jon Cohen & Kinda Hachem & Gary Richardson, 2021. "Relationship Lending and the Great Depression," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(3), pages 505-520, July.
    6. Daniel K. Fetter & Lee M. Lockwood, 2018. "Government Old-Age Support and Labor Supply: Evidence from the Old Age Assistance Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(8), pages 2174-2211, August.
    7. Quincy, Sarah, 2022. "Income shocks and housing spillovers: Evidence from the World War I Veterans’ Bonus," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    8. Mitchener, Kris & Das, Sanjiv & Vossmeyer, Angela, 2018. "Bank Regulation, Network Topology, and Systemic Risk: Evidence from the Great Depression," CEPR Discussion Papers 13416, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Berger, Allen N. & Molyneux, Phil & Wilson, John O.S., 2020. "Banks and the real economy: An assessment of the research," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
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    Keywords

    Depressions; Bank failures - United States; Bank loans - United States;
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