This paper investigates the effect of bank failures on economic growth using data from 1900 to 1930, a period that predates active government stabilization policies and includes periods of banking system distress that are not coincident with recessions. Using both VAR and a...

This paper, prepared for a University of Illinois College of Law symposium honoring Prof. Larry Ribstein, deals with the historical development of corporate law in the United States, focusing on the promise and perils of quantification. The paper is part of a larger project where we have already...

Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the U.S. financial system became more inclusive but subtle forms of financial discrimination remained, though they were difficult to prove statistically. Instead of reducing the residue of recalcitrant discrimination, regulators in the...

How did pre-Fed banking crises end? How did depositors' beliefs change? During the National Banking Era, 1863-1914, banks responded to the severe panics by suspending convertibility; that is, they refused to exchange cash for their liabilities (checking accounts). At the start of the suspension...

The unit banking structure of the United States gave rise to a uniquely important interbank correspondent network, which linked banks throughout the country during the National Banking Era. During normal times, these interbank network relationships provided banks with access to money markets,...

This Essay challenges a central narrative in the history of Anglo-American business by questioning the importance of the corporate form. The corporate form was not, as we have long believed, the exclusive historical source of powers such as limited liability, entity shielding, tradable shares,...

This paper summarizes and compares the events associated with two financial crises separated by 100 years, occurring in 1907 and 2007-2009. The dynamics of both crises have much in common. The commonalities inform and enrich the theories and research on the dynamics of financial crises. And they...

Why did Victorian Britain invest so much capital abroad? We collect over 500,000 monthly returns of British and foreign securities trading in London and the United States between 1866 and 1907. These heretofore-unknown data allow us to better quantify the historical benefits of international...

In Japan, since 2013, Japanese corporate governance reform has been developed by Japanese Government initiatives. This paper provides a theoretical framework for understanding what Japanese corporate governance reform means for Japanese companies by an application of agency theory. Corporate...

Fraud and irrationality are often blamed for financial manias and panics. Investor euphoria can unleash social and technological breakthroughs, but the subsequent failures can destroy value and radicalize the political sphere. Are these events random, idiosyncratic, or driven by some force? The...