IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/27964.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How Did Depositors Respond to COVID-19?

Author

Listed:
  • Ross Levine
  • Chen Lin
  • Mingzhu Tai
  • Wensi Xie

Abstract

Why did banks experience massive deposit inflows during the first months of the pandemic? Using weekly branch-level data on interest rates and county-level data on COVID-19 cases, we discover that interest rates at bank branches in counties with higher COVID-19 infection rates fell by more than rates at other branches—even branches of the same bank in different counties. When differentiating weeks by the degree of stock market distress and counties by the likely impact of COVID-19 cases on economic anxiety, the evidence suggests that the deposit inflows were triggered by a surge in the supply of precautionary savings.

Suggested Citation

  • Ross Levine & Chen Lin & Mingzhu Tai & Wensi Xie, 2020. "How Did Depositors Respond to COVID-19?," NBER Working Papers 27964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27964
    Note: CF EFG ME
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w27964.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ľuboš Pástor & M Blair Vorsatz & Jeffrey Pontiff, 0. "Mutual Fund Performance and Flows during the COVID-19 Crisis," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 791-833.
    2. Egemen Eren & Andreas Schrimpf & Vladyslav Sushko, 2020. "US dollar funding markets during the Covid-19 crisis - the money market fund turmoil," BIS Bulletins 14, Bank for International Settlements.
    3. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1996. "The Financial Accelerator and the Flight to Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 1-15, February.
    4. Lei Li & Philip E. Strahan & Song Zhang, 2020. "Banks as Lenders of First Resort: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis," NBER Working Papers 27256, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Berger, Allen N & Hannan, Timothy H, 1989. "The Price-Concentration Relationship in Banking," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(2), pages 291-299, May.
    6. Christopher D. Carroll & Andrew A. Samwick, 1998. "How Important Is Precautionary Saving?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(3), pages 410-419, August.
    7. Anil K. Kashyap & Raghuram Rajan & Jeremy C. Stein, 2002. "Banks as Liquidity Providers: An Explanation for the Coexistence of Lending and Deposit‐taking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 33-73, February.
    8. Martin Browning & Annamaria Lusardi, 1996. "Household Saving: Micro Theories and Micro Facts," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(4), pages 1797-1855, December.
    9. Niels Joachim Gormsen & Ralph S J Koijen & Nikolai Roussanov, 0. "Coronavirus: Impact on Stock Prices and Growth Expectations," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 574-597.
    10. Chodorow-Reich, Gabriel & Darmouni, Olivier & Luck, Stephan & Plosser, Matthew, 2022. "Bank liquidity provision across the firm size distribution," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 908-932.
    11. Engen, Eric M. & Gruber, Jonathan, 2001. "Unemployment insurance and precautionary saving," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 545-579, June.
    12. Hannan, Timothy H & Berger, Allen N, 1991. "The Rigidity of Prices: Evidence from the Banking Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(4), pages 938-945, September.
    13. Allcott, Hunt & Boxell, Levi & Conway, Jacob & Gentzkow, Matthew & Thaler, Michael & Yang, David, 2020. "Polarization and public health: Partisan differences in social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    14. Valentin Haddad & Alan Moreira & Tyler Muir, 2021. "When Selling Becomes Viral: Disruptions in Debt Markets in the COVID-19 Crisis and the Fed’s Response [Funding value adjustments]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5309-5351.
    15. Lei Li & Philip E Strahan & Song Zhang, 2020. "Banks as Lenders of First Resort: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 472-500.
    16. Scott R Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J Davis & Kyle Kost & Marco Sammon & Tasaneeya Viratyosin & Jeffrey Pontiff, 0. "The Unprecedented Stock Market Reaction to COVID-19," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 742-758.
    17. Ivashina, Victoria & Scharfstein, David, 2010. "Bank lending during the financial crisis of 2008," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 319-338, September.
    18. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Michael Stepner & The Opportunity Insights Team, 2020. "The Economic Impacts of COVID-19: Evidence from a New Public Database Built Using Private Sector Data," NBER Working Papers 27431, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Mahyar Kargar & Benjamin Lester & David Lindsay & Shuo Liu & Pierre-Olivier Weill & Diego Zúñiga, 2021. "Corporate Bond Liquidity during the COVID-19 Crisis [The day coronavirus nearly broke the financial markets]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5352-5401.
    20. Cornett, Marcia Millon & McNutt, Jamie John & Strahan, Philip E. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2011. "Liquidity risk management and credit supply in the financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 297-312, August.
    21. Sumit Agarwal & Wenlan Qian, 2014. "Consumption and Debt Response to Unanticipated Income Shocks: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Singapore," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(12), pages 4205-4230, December.
    22. Evan Gatev & Philip E. Strahan, 2006. "Banks' Advantage in Hedging Liquidity Risk: Theory and Evidence from the Commercial Paper Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(2), pages 867-892, April.
    23. Lei Li & Philip E Strahan & Song Zhang, 0. "Banks as Lenders of First Resort: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis," Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 472-500.
    24. Starr-McCluer, Martha, 1996. "Health Insurance and Precautionary Savings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 285-295, March.
    25. Falato, Antonio & Goldstein, Itay & Hortaçsu, Ali, 2021. "Financial fragility in the COVID-19 crisis: The case of investment funds in corporate bond markets," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 35-52.
    26. Egemen Eren & Andreas Schrimpf & Vladyslav Sushko, 2020. "US dollar funding markets during the Covid-19 crisis - the international dimension," BIS Bulletins 15, Bank for International Settlements.
    27. Francesco D’Acunto & Thomas Rauter & Christoph K. Scheuch & Michael Weber, 2020. "Perceived Precautionary Savings Motives: Evidence from FinTech," NBER Working Papers 26817, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Christopher Martin & Manju Puri & Alexander Ufier, 2018. "Deposit Inflows and Outflows in Failing Banks: The Role of Deposit Insurance," NBER Working Papers 24589, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Lei Li & Yi Li & Marco Macchiavelli & Xing (Alex) Zhou, 2021. "Liquidity Restrictions, Runs, and Central Bank Interventions: Evidence from Money Market Funds [Dealer financial conditions and lender-of-last-resort facilities]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5402-5437.
    30. Viral V. Acharya & Nada Mora, 2015. "A Crisis of Banks as Liquidity Providers," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(1), pages 1-43, February.
    31. Karen E. Dynan, 1993. "How prudent are consumers?," Working Paper Series / Economic Activity Section 135, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    32. Laura Alfaro & Anusha Chari & Andrew N. Greenland & Peter K. Schott, 2020. "Aggregate and Firm-Level Stock Returns During Pandemics, in Real Time," NBER Working Papers 26950, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Dynan, Karen E, 1993. "How Prudent Are Consumers?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(6), pages 1104-1113, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shari De Baets & Dilek Önkal & Wasim Ahmed, 2022. "Do Risky Scenarios Affect Forecasts of Savings and Expenses?," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-28, February.
    2. Darrell Duffie & Cooperman Harry & Stephan Luck & Zachry Wang & Yilin Yang, 2022. "Bank Funding Risk, Reference Rates, and Credit Supply," Staff Reports 1042, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Leonardo Bonilla-Mejía & Mauricio Villamizar-Villegas, 2022. "The Leading Role of Bank Supply Shocks," Borradores de Economia 1205, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    4. Amal Alabbad & Andrea Schertler, 2022. "COVID-19 and bank performance in dual-banking countries: an empirical analysis," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(9), pages 1511-1557, November.
    5. Ling, Aifan & Huang, Xinrui & Ling, Boya (Vivye), 2022. "Fund immunity to the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Chinese equity funds," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    6. Marcelo A. T. Aragão, 2021. "Blurred Crystal Ball: investigating the forecasting challenges after a great exogenous shock," Working Papers Series 549, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    7. Chen, Zhiwei & Li, Zhaoyuan & Liu, Sibo, 2022. "The price of political polarization: Evidence from municipal issuers during the coronavirus pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    8. Silva, Thiago Christiano & de Souza, Sergio Rubens Stancato & Guerra, Solange Maria & Tabak, Benjamin Miranda, 2023. "COVID-19 and bank branch lending: The moderating effect of digitalization," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    9. Kryzanowski, Lawrence & Liu, Jinjing & Zhang, Jie, 2023. "Effect of COVID-19 on non-performing loans in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    10. Jin, Yi & Zhao, Hang & Bu, Lin & Zhang, Dayong, 2023. "Geopolitical risk, climate risk and energy markets: A dynamic spillover analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    11. Allen N. Berger & Martien Lamers & Raluca A. Roman & Koen Schoors, 2020. "Unexpected Effects of Bank Bailouts:Depositors Need Not Apply and Need Not Run," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 20/1005, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    12. Ren, He & Zheng, Yi, 2023. "COVID-19 vaccination and household savings: An economic recovery channel," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    13. Itay Goldstein & Ralph S J Koijen & Holger M Mueller, 2021. "COVID-19 and Its Impact on Financial Markets and the Real Economy [A model of endogenous risk intolerance and LSAPs: Asset prices and aggregate demand in a “COVID-19” shock]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5135-5148.
    14. Allen N. Berger & Martien Lamers & Raluca A. Roman & Koen Schoors, 2023. "Supply and Demand Effects of Bank Bailouts: Depositors Need Not Apply and Need Not Run," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(6), pages 1397-1442, September.
    15. Dursun-de Neef, H. Özlem & Schandlbauer, Alexander, 2022. "COVID-19, bank deposits, and lending," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 20-33.
    16. Ananou, Foly & Chronopoulos, Dimitris K. & Tarazi, Amine & Wilson, John O.S., 2021. "Liquidity regulation and bank lending," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    17. Lorenzo Pozzi & Barbara Sadaba, 2023. "Macroeconomic Disasters and Consumption Smoothing: International Evidence from Historical Data," Staff Working Papers 23-4, Bank of Canada.
    18. Gao, Penghui & Secor, William & Escalante, Cesar L., 2022. "Banking Efficiency Analysis for U.S. agricultural and non-agricultural banks: Comparative Period Analysis between the Great Recession of the late 2000s and the Current Pandemic conditions," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322329, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Yousefi, Hamed & Najand, Mohammad, 2022. "Geographical diversification using ETFs: Multinational evidence from COVID-19 pandemic," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    20. Li, Xiang, 2022. "The role of state-owned banks in crises: Evidence from German banks during COVID-19," IWH Discussion Papers 6/2022, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), revised 2022.
    21. Degryse, Hans & Huylebroek, Cédric, 2023. "Fiscal support and banks’ loan loss provisions during the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    22. Grażyna Szustak & Witold Gradoń & Łukasz Szewczyk, 2021. "Household Financial Situation during the COVID-19 Pandemic with Particular Emphasis on Savings—An Evidence from Poland Compared to Other CEE States," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-15, September.
    23. Gao, Haoyu & Li, Jinxuan & Wen, Huiyu, 2023. "Bank funding costs during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Viral V. Acharya & Robert F. Engle III & Maximilian Jager & Sascha Steffen, 2021. "Why Did Bank Stocks Crash During COVID-19?," NBER Working Papers 28559, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Luo, Kaisheng & Nicolae, Anamaria & Paltalidis, Nikos, 2021. "Banks' Liquidity Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic," MPRA Paper 108219, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Kevin F. Kiernan & Vladimir Yankov & Filip Zikes, 2021. "Liquidity Provision and Co-insurance in Bank Syndicates," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-060, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Chodorow-Reich, Gabriel & Darmouni, Olivier & Luck, Stephan & Plosser, Matthew, 2022. "Bank liquidity provision across the firm size distribution," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 908-932.
    5. Correa, Ricardo & Sapriza, Horacio & Zlate, Andrei, 2021. "Wholesale funding runs, global banks' supply of liquidity insurance, and corporate investment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Karakaplan, Mustafa U., 2021. "This time is really different: The multiplier effect of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) on small business bank loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    7. W. Blake Marsh & Padma Sharma, 2021. "Government Loan Guarantees during a Crisis: The Effect of the PPP on Bank Lending and Profitability," Research Working Paper RWP 21-03, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    8. Tran, Dung Viet & Nguyen, Cuong, 2023. "Policy uncertainty and bank’s funding costs: The effects of the financial crisis, Covid-19 pandemic, and market discipline," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Viral V Acharya & Sascha Steffen, 2020. "The Risk of Being a Fallen Angel and the Corporate Dash for Cash in the Midst of COVID," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 430-471.
    10. Isil Erel & Jack Liebersohn, 2020. "Does FinTech Substitute for Banks? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," NBER Working Papers 27659, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Gopalakrishnan, Balagopal & Jacob, Joshy & Mohapatra, Sanket, 2021. "Government responses, business continuity, and management sentiment: Impact on debt financing during COVID-19," IIMA Working Papers WP 2021-04-03, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    12. Darrell Duffie & Cooperman Harry & Stephan Luck & Zachry Wang & Yilin Yang, 2022. "Bank Funding Risk, Reference Rates, and Credit Supply," Staff Reports 1042, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    13. Dong Beom Choi & Hyun-Soo Choi, 2021. "The Effect of Monetary Policy on Bank Wholesale Funding," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(1), pages 388-416, January.
    14. Hasan, Iftekhar & Politsidis, Panagiotis N. & Sharma, Zenu, 2021. "Global syndicated lending during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    15. Chou, Shin-Yi & Liu, Jin-Tan & Hammitt, James K., 2003. "National Health Insurance and precautionary saving: evidence from Taiwan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(9-10), pages 1873-1894, September.
    16. Lei Li & Philip E. Strahan & Song Zhang, 2020. "Banks as Lenders of First Resort: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis," NBER Working Papers 27256, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Murata, Keiko, 2003. "Precautionary Savings and Income Uncertainty: Evidence from Japanese Micro Data," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 21(3), pages 21-52, October.
    18. Essig, Lothar, 2005. "Precautionary saving and old-age provisions : do subjective saving motives measures work?," Papers 05-22, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    19. Essig, Lothar, 2004. "Precautionary saving and old-age provisions: Do subjective saving motives measures work?," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 05-22, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    20. Greppmair, Stefan & Jank, Stephan & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2023. "On the importance of fiscal space: Evidence from short sellers during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27964. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.