Whether and when does banking serve to stabilize the economy? Caprio and Honohan view the banking system as a filter through which foreign and domestic shocks feed through to the domestic economy. The filter can dampen or amplify the shocks through various credit market channels, including...

Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: The US financial system from the National Banking Act to the crisis of 2007 -- Chapter 3: The birth of the Federal reserve and its monetary policy -- Chapter 4: Non bank financial intermediaries and the crisis of 1929 -- Chapter 5: The Great Depression --...