We survey the theories of why banks promise to pay par on demand and examine evidence about the conditions under which banks have promised to pay the par value of deposits and banknotes on demand when holding only fractional reserves. The theoretical literature can be broadly divided into four...

We examine the evolution of decentralized clearinghouse mechanisms from the 13th to the 18th century; in particular, we explore the clearing of non- or limitedtradable debts like bills of exchange. We construct a theoretical model of these clearinghouse mechanisms, similar to the models in the...

This paper examines the historical origins of the bank-based financial systems in Germany and Japan and the market-based financial system in the US. It critically examines the "timing of industrialization" (TOI) thesis, i.e. the assertion that variation in the current structure of financial...

This paper argues that the banking crises in the United States in the early 1930s were similar to the ?twin crises? -- banking and balance of payments crises -- which have occurred in developing countries in recent years. The downturn that began in 1929 undermined banks that had made risky loans...

This paper examines the 1931 German banking crisis using a bank-level data set. It specifically focuses on the link between banking structure and financial stability. The universality of banks, a key characteristic of the German banking system, is shown to increase the probability of bank...

This paper examines the link between banking structure and financial fragility across Europe during the 1920s and 1930s using a new database. Monthly and annual data are analyzed to show that countries with universal banking were more likely to experience crises. Furthermore, those countries...

Im Vergleich zur weit in die Geschichte zurückreichenden Tradition der Banken, steckt deren internes Rechnungswesen noch immer in den Kinderschuhen. Erst in den 1920er Jahren begann eine intensive, Theorie und Praxis erfassende Auseinandersetzung mit den drängenden Fragen der Bankkalkulation....