The Panic of 1907 is an important episode in American financial history because it led, in part, to the creation of the Federal Reserve. Although much has been written about the crisis, little has been said about its underlying causes. This study identifies the San Francisco earthquake and its...

We examine the historical record of the financial crises that have often accompanied surges of globalization in the past. The issue of contagion, the spread of financial turbulence from the crisis center to its trading partners, is confronted with historical and statistical evidence on the...

A new daily data set of Confederate cotton bonds trading in Liverpool is analyzed in conjunction with Union Greenback prices to asses the impact of war news on Civil War asset prices. The empirical analysis indicates the presence of a cointegrating relationship between Union Greenback prices and...

This paper introduces a new high frequency time series of Confederate money prices taken from the newspapers of Richmond and leading cities in the Eastern Confederacy. The new Grayback series is tested for “turning points.” The empirical analysis suggests that “turning points” in the...

This paper investigates the more than doubling of Confederate cotton bond prices between December 1863 and September 1864, even after critical defeats of Southern armies at Gettysburg and Vicksurg in the summer of 1863. Offsetting adverse war news during this period were movements in the price...

The Confederate States of America floated two small bond issues in Europe during the American Civil War; cotton bonds that traded primarily in England and junk bonds in Amsterdam. The Confederacy serviced the cotton bonds for the duration of the war and defaulted on the junk bond issue....

Confederate Treasury notes were convertible into government bonds at par. This provided an imbedded option value for the currency. Confederate interest-rate policy encouraged, and ultimately coerced, holders of Treasury notes to exchange these notes for bonds by imposing deadlines on their...

We analyze GDP estimates for Italy, Portugal, and Spain during the period 1850-1913. The time series analysis indicates that Italy experienced a break in trend growth during the late 1890s while Spain had constant, deterministic growth during this period. Economic growth in Portugal is...

During the Civil War the Arkansas legislature funded their expenditures primarily through interest-bearing warrants and war bonds. After these issues were made legal tender in November 1861, the discount attributed to them disappeared immediately and they began to circulate widely. In mid-1862...