scholarly journals Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Bank Failures and Near Failures That Started America’s Greatest Financial Panics

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-358
Author(s):  
Hugh Rockoff
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
John Stuart Mill ◽  
Bank Failures ◽  
Peter Pan ◽  
Shadow Banks ◽  
Short Series ◽  
Panic Of 1819

This paper examines the failures or in some cases near-failures of financial institutions that started the 12 most severe peacetime financial panics in the United States, beginning with the Panic of 1819 and ending with the Panic of 2008. The following generalizations were true in most cases, although not in all. (1) Panics were triggered by a short series of failures or near-failures; (2) many of the failing institutions were what we would now call shadow banks; (3) typically, the source of trouble was an excessive investment in real estate; and (4) typically, they had outstanding reputations for trustworthiness, prudence, and financial acumen—before they failed. It appears that in these respects the Panic of 2008 was an old-school panic.[a panic] occurs when a succession of unexpected failures has created in the mercantile, and sometimes also in the non-mercantile public a general distrust in each other’s solvency; disposing every one not only to refuse fresh credit, except on very onerous terms, but to call in, if possible all credit which he has already given.—John Stuart MillAll of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.—Peter Pan

Part II Bank Resolution, 8 Resolution of US Banks and Other Financial Institutions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivares-Caminal Rodrigo ◽  
Douglas John ◽  
Guynn Randall ◽  
Kornberg Alan ◽  
Paterson Sarah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Financial System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Bank Failures ◽  
Residual Value ◽  
Bank Resolution ◽  
History Of

The chapter starts by looking at resolution as understood in the United States. ‘Resolution’ refers to the way bank failures are dealt with in the United States. Similar to the traditional bankruptcy model, the chapter explains, two of the main goals of resolution are to maximize the value and minimize the losses of an institution for the benefit of its depositors and other stakeholders and, at least in a receivership situation, to determine who receives the residual value of the institution in satisfaction of their claims. However, resolution is also aimed at promoting a third goal: to deal with a failed institution in a manner that reduces the risk of contagion, preserves or restores public confidence in the banking or wider financial system, and otherwise promotes financial stability. The chapter then describes the history of financial resolution in the United States and outlines the fundamentals of resolution authority.

Stress Testing to Assess Recovery from Extreme Events

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. John Plodinec
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Stress Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Potential Benefits

Abstract Over the last decade, communities have become increasingly aware of the risks they face. They are threatened by natural disasters, which may be exacerbated by climate change and the movement of land masses. Growing globalization has made a pandemic due to the rapid spread of highly infectious diseases ever more likely. Societal discord breeds its own threats, not the least of which is the spread of radical ideologies giving rise to terrorism. The accelerating rate of technological change has bred its own social and economic risks. This widening spectrum of risk poses a difficult question to every community – how resilient will the community be to the extreme events it faces. In this paper, we present a new approach to answering that question. It is based on the stress testing of financial institutions required by regulators in the United States and elsewhere. It generalizes stress testing by expanding the concept of “capital” beyond finance to include the other “capitals” (e.g., human, social) possessed by a community. Through use of this approach, communities can determine which investments of its capitals are most likely to improve its resilience. We provide an example of using the approach, and discuss its potential benefits.

“Little Plants in the Country”: Henry Ford's Village Industries and the Beginning of Decentralized Technology in Modern America

Prospects ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 181-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard P. Segal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
New York ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physical Proximity ◽  
The World ◽  
Word Processors

“Technology Spurs Decentralization Across the Country.” So reads a 1984 New York Times article on real-estate trends in the United States. The contemporary revolution in information processing and transmittal now allows large businesses and other institutions to disperse their offices and other facilities across the country, even across the world, without loss of the policy- and decision-making abilities formerly requiring regular physical proximity. Thanks to computers, word processors, and the like, decentralization has become a fact of life in America and other highly technological societies.

Understanding America Better A Ten-book Challenge

LOGOS ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-55
Author(s):  
Gordon Graham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Real Estate Agent ◽  
The Subject ◽  
International Entrepreneur

AbstractEleven Americans, including a publisher, an international entrepreneur, two librarians, an historian, an art designer, a real estate agent, an author, an academic, an IT consultant and a bibliophile, were asked to choose which ten books they would recommend to a new arrival in the United States. Their target was defined as literate in English, well read, and with an intelligent outsider's knowledge of the United States. The participants, who made their choices unbeknown to one another, were invited to annotate their choices. The result is a kaleidoscope of views and arguments, with surprisingly little overlap, reflecting the endless diversity of the subject. The earliest of the 87 titles recommended is dated 1786, the most recent 2011. They include the famous and the obscure, scholarly and popular, tomes and light reading, poetry and essays, history and biography, science and sociology.

The Impeccable System

Money ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kenneth Galbraith ◽  
James K. Galbraith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Reserve ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Bank Failures ◽  
Federal Reserve System ◽  
Woodrow Wilson ◽  
System P ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Reserve System

This chapter examines the impact of the Federal Reserve System on money and banking in the United States. The Federal Reserve System was created in 1913 by virtue of the Federal Reserve Act passed by Congress and signed by President Woodrow Wilson. The Federal Reserve Act (1913) provided not for one but for as many as twelve central banks. It was conceived as an answer to the great panics, but in this respect the System was notably defective. Nor was the System better as an antidote for an alarming epidemic of bank failures. Furthermore, the most severe inflation ever in peacetime occurred under its watch. The chapter considers the successes and failures of the Federal Reserve System and looks at another body established to study the management of money in the United States: the National Monetary Commission.

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