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Full-Text Articles in History

Financial Factors And The Propagation Of The Great Depression, Gustavo S. Cortes, Bryan Taylor, Marc D. Weidenmier Aug 2021

Financial Factors And The Propagation Of The Great Depression, Gustavo S. Cortes, Bryan Taylor, Marc D. Weidenmier

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We investigate the role of forward-looking financial factors in propagating the Great Depression. We find that a new hand-collected bank stock index is better at predicting the onset of the Great Depression than the aggregate stock market or failed bank deposits. The bank stock index explains almost one-third of the fluctuations in industrial production after five years. Analysis disaggregated at each Federal Reserve district shows that bank stocks capture forward-looking information about debt defaults and credit. Our results suggest that future studies of the credit channel during the Great Depression should incorporate bank stocks to better identify the impact of …


A Matter Of Scale: Assessing The Great Recession Against The Great Depression, Steven L. Danver Nov 2012

A Matter Of Scale: Assessing The Great Recession Against The Great Depression, Steven L. Danver

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

The Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession of the late 2000s are compared using economic, social, and political measures to determine if the later economic downturn was as much of a bellwether event as its predecessor.


Intensified Regulatory Scrutiny And Bank Distress In New York City During The Great Depression,” With Patrick Van Horn, Gary Richardson May 2009

Intensified Regulatory Scrutiny And Bank Distress In New York City During The Great Depression,” With Patrick Van Horn, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

Bank distress peaked in New York City, at the center of the United States money market, in July and August 1931, when the banking crisis peaked in Germany and before Britain abandoned the gold standard. This article tests competing theories about the causes of New York’s banking crisis. The cause appears to have been intensified regulatory scrutiny, which was a delayed reaction to the failure of the Bank of United States, rather than the exposure of money center banks to events overseas.


Quarterly Data On The Categories And Causes Of Bank Distress During The Great Depression, Gary Richardson Dec 2007

Quarterly Data On The Categories And Causes Of Bank Distress During The Great Depression, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

No abstract provided.


Distress During The Great Depression: The Illiquidity-Insolvency Debate Revisited, Gary Richardson Sep 2007

Distress During The Great Depression: The Illiquidity-Insolvency Debate Revisited, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

During the contraction from 1929 to 1933, the Federal Reserve System tracked changes in the status of all banks operating in the United States and determined the cause of each bank suspension. This essay analyzes chronological patterns in aggregate series constructed from that data. The analysis demonstrates both illiquidity and insolvency were substantial sources of bank distress. Periods of heightened distress were correlated with periods of increased illiquidity. Contagion via correspondent networks and bank runs propagated the initial banking panics. As the depression deepened and asset values declined, insolvency loomed as the principal threat to depository institutions.


Check Is In The Mail: Correspondent Clearing And The Banking Panics Of The Great Depression, Gary Richardson Aug 2007

Check Is In The Mail: Correspondent Clearing And The Banking Panics Of The Great Depression, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

Weaknesses within the check-clearing system played a hitherto unrecognized role in the banking crises of the Great Depression. Correspondent check-clearing networks were vulnerable to counter-party cascades. Accounting conventions that overstated reserves available to corresponding institutions may have exacerbated the situation. The initial banking panic began when a correspondent network centered in Nashville collapsed, forcing over 100 institutions to suspend operations. As the contraction continued, additional correspondent systems imploded. The vulnerability of correspondent networks is one reason that banks that cleared via correspondents failed at higher rates than other institutions during the Great Depression.


The Records Of The Federal Reserve Board Of Governors In The National Archives Of The United States, Gary Richardson Mar 2006

The Records Of The Federal Reserve Board Of Governors In The National Archives Of The United States, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

The archives of the Federal Reserve System are found in Record Group 82 at the National Archives of the United States. This article describes the materials available in that record group and ways to locate useful documents. Section i provides a brief history of the Federal Reserve; it describes the organization of the institution and how it changed over time. The focus is on issues important for understanding the types of documents that may or will not be found in the archives. Section ii describes the process by which the documents were generated and preserved. Section iii provides a broad …


Warren County - New Deal Programs (Mss 129), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jan 2000

Warren County - New Deal Programs (Mss 129), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 129. Administrative files, chiefly applications and correspondence of the Warren County [Kentucky] Relief Committee, a local branch of the Federal Emergency Relief Agency (FERA), which approved families for assistance and referred them to various relief agencies.