Through the nineteenth century numerous U.S. states developed extensive municipal fiscal constitutions. These generally came in the wake of financial crises and large-scale default of public debts. Although the constraints were imposed in order to minimize the likelihood that such outcomes would...

Three types of banks, community (small, relationship-based), mega (very large, transaction-based), and goldilocks (middling, mix of relationship and transaction-based) are surveyed throughout U.S. banking history. Megabanks are relatively new and while they pose threats to macroeconomic...

One strand of the economics literature addresses financial deepening as a precursor to economic growth. Another views it as a cause of financial crises. We examine historical data for 17 economies from 1870 to 1929 to distinguish episodes of growth induced by financial deepening from crises...

Korean Abstract: 대공황은 20세기의 가장 중요한 역사적 사건 중 하나로, 현재 고등학교 사회과 교과서들은 근대 경제의 형성과 관련 해서 대공황을 비중 있게 다루고 있다. 하지만 대공황에 대한 교과서의 서술들을 분석해 보면,...

To test a model of contagion — where individuals hear some bad news and communicate it to their acquaintances, who then pass it on, leading to a market panic — requires a knowledge of the information networks of participants, something hitherto unavailable. For two panics in the !850's this...

I distinguish between a gold standard founded on custom-based or “private” law, and one resting upon statute or “public” law, that is, on government legislation. I then argue that the development and flourishing of the historical gold standard depended crucially upon its moorings in...

This article covers examples of successful futures contracts that responded to new large-scale commercial risks over the past 170 years. The article explains the new commercial circumstances that ushered in the intense need for hedging instruments, spanning the grain, financial, crude oil, and...

Claims to the contrary notwithstanding, tax havens existed long before the twentieth century. This paper explores one of them, mainland British North America. It shows that real estate tax capitalization/amortization was incomplete, so British investors could have engaged in tax arbitrage by...

We develop a theory of self-enforcing monetary constitutions. A monetary constitution is the framework of rules within which money-providing and money-using agents interact. A self-enforcing monetary constitutions is upheld by the agents acting within the system; it thus does not require...

I exploit variation in the adoption of disclosure and supervisory regulation across U.S. states to examine their impact on the development and stability of commercial banks. The empirical results suggest that the adoption of state‐level requirements to report financial statements in local...