If stable and efficient banks are such a good idea, why are they so rare? -- The game of bank bargains -- Tools of conquest and survival : why states need banks -- Privileges with burdens : war, empire, and the monopoly structure of English banking -- Banks and democracy : Britain in the...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Section One. No Banks without States, and No States without Banks -- 1. If Stable and Efficient Banks Are Such a Good Idea, Why Are They So Rare? -- 2. The Game of Bank Bargains -- 3. Tools of Conquest and Survival Why States Need Banks -- 4. Privileges with...

Fragile by Design suggests a unifying explanation for systematic differences across countries in the domestic supply of credit and the susceptibility of banking systems to failure. The centrepiece is a theory of “The Game of Bank Bargains” (“the Game”), which is played between bankers,...

This is my presidential address to the Economic History Association that was delivered in September 2020. It examines the failures or in some cases near-failures, of financial institutions that started the 12 most severe peacetime financial panics in the United States, beginning with the Panic...