"New data reveals that bank distress peaked in New York City, at the center of the United States money market, in July and August 1931, when the banking crisis peaked in Germany and before Britain abandoned the gold standard. This paper tests competing theories about the causes of New York's...

Regulatory independence forms a foundation for modern financial systems. To illuminate the value of this ubiquitous institution, we examine a Progressive Era policy experiment in which hitherto independent regulators came under gubernatorial supervision. After this change, failure rates declined...

Intro -- Contents -- Foreword -- Glossary -- 1 Introduction -- 2 A Primer on Systemic Risk -- 3 Systemic Risk: A Theoretical Framework -- 4 The Buildup of Financial Imbalances -- 5 Contagion -- 6 Systemic Risk and the Real Costs of FinancialCrises -- 7 Measuring Systemic Risk -- 8 Systemic Risk...

"Scholars differ on whether Federal Reserve intervention mitigated banking panics during the Great Depression and in recent years. The last panic prior to the Depression sheds light on this debate. In April 1929, a fruit fly infestation in Florida forced the U.S. government to quarantine fruit...