Local Banking Panics of the 1920s: Identification and Determinants

40 Pages Posted: 5 Nov 2012 Last revised: 2 May 2014

See all articles by Lee Davison

Lee Davison

FDIC, Division of Insurance and Research

Carlos D. Ramirez

George Mason University - Department of Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: November 4, 2012

Abstract

Using a newly discovered dataset of U.S. bank suspensions from 1921 to 1929, we discovered that banking panics were more common in the 1920s than had been believed. Besides identifying panics, we investigate their determinants, finding that local banking panics were more likely when fundamental economic conditions were generally weak and more likely in “overbanked” states; they were less likely in states with deposit insurance or states where a relatively large share of banks belonged to chain banking organizations.

Keywords: Bank Runs, Banking Panics, Cluster Analysis, U.S. Banking History

JEL Classification: N22, G21

Suggested Citation

Davison, Lee and Ramirez, Carlos D., Local Banking Panics of the 1920s: Identification and Determinants (November 4, 2012). GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 12-56, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2171092 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2171092

Lee Davison

FDIC, Division of Insurance and Research ( email )

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Carlos D. Ramirez (Contact Author)

George Mason University - Department of Economics ( email )

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