IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v83y2024i2p393-406.html

Asymmetric information and capital mobility in antebellum America

Author

Listed:
  • Donald F. Vitaliano

Abstract

The New York legislature granted charters to 28 new banks in 1829. Over $5 million in capital was subscribed by 1745 individuals or entities. The average distance between investor and bank is less than 40 miles, and the average number of investors is 75 per bank, with ownership and control closely aligned. A gravity model fixed effects regression is estimated. Insiders, such as public officials and bank officers account for over one quarter of the invested capital. After accounting for information asymmetry, a strong home bias exists which suggests a high degree of capital immobility. The failure of Northern capital to invest in Southern manufacturing is readily explained by the picture of a thin and localized market dominated by political elite and specialized traders.

Suggested Citation

  • Donald F. Vitaliano, 2024. "Asymmetric information and capital mobility in antebellum America," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(2), pages 393-406, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:83:y:2024:i:2:p:393-406
    DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12547
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12547
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ajes.12547?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davis,Lance E. & Cull,Robert J., 2002. "International Capital Markets and American Economic Growth, 1820–1914," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521526449, January.
    2. Lamoreaux, Naomi R., 1986. "Banks, Kinship, and Economic Development: The New England Case," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(3), pages 647-667, September.
    3. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    4. La Croix, Sumner J. & Grandy, Christopher, 1993. "Financial Integration in Antebellum America: Strengthening Bodenhorn's Results," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 653-658, September.
    5. Martin Feldstein, 1991. "Domestic Saving and International Capital Movements in the Long Run and the Short Run," NBER Chapters, in: International Volatility and Economic Growth: The First Ten Years of The International Seminar on Macroeconomics, pages 331-353, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Ng, Kenneth, 1988. "Free Banking Laws and Barriers to Entry in Banking, 1838–1860," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(4), pages 877-889, December.
    7. Hiscox, Michael J., 2002. "Interindustry Factor Mobility And Technological Change: Evidence On Wage And Profit Dispersion Across U.S. Industries, 1820–1990," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(2), pages 383-416, June.
    8. Portes, Richard & Rey, Helene & Oh, Yonghyup, 2001. "Information and capital flows: The determinants of transactions in financial assets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 783-796, May.
    9. Rousseau, Peter L. & Sylla, Richard, 2005. "Emerging financial markets and early US growth," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 1-26, January.
    10. Bodenhorn,Howard, 2000. "A History of Banking in Antebellum America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521669993, January.
    11. George R. Zodrow, 2019. "Capital Mobility and Capital Tax Competition," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: George R Zodrow (ed.), TAXATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE Selected Essays of George R. Zodrow, chapter 18, pages 543-570, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Bodenhorn, Howard, 1992. "Capital Mobility and Financial Integration in Antebellum America," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(3), pages 585-610, September.
    13. Martin Feldstein, 1994. "Tax policy and international capital flows," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 130(4), pages 675-697, December.
    14. Feldstein, Martin & Horioka, Charles, 1980. "Domestic Saving and International Capital Flows," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(358), pages 314-329, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Howard Bodenhorn, 2016. "Two Centuries of Finance and Growth in the United States, 1790-1980," Working Papers id:11352, eSocialSciences.
    2. Rustam Jamilov, 2013. "J-Curve Dynamics and the Marshall–Lerner Condition: Evidence from Azerbaijan," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 19(3), pages 313-323, February.
    3. Chakrabarti, Avik, 2006. "The saving-investment relationship revisited: New evidence from multivariate heterogeneous panel cointegration analyses," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 402-419, June.
    4. Bahmani-Oskooee, Mohsen & Chakrabarti, Avik, 2005. "Openness, size, and the saving-investment relationship," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 283-293, September.
    5. Jamilov, Rustam, 2012. "Capital mobility in the Caucasus," MPRA Paper 38184, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Apr 2012.
    6. Pieterse-Bloem, M., 2011. "The effect of Emu on bond market integration and investor portfolio allocations," Other publications TiSEM 3c6ce80d-9260-424a-b889-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Jos Jansen, W, 1996. "Estimating saving-investment correlations: evidence for OECD countries based on an error correction model," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 749-781, October.
    8. Naib ALAKBAROV & Yılmaz BAYAR, 2021. "International Financial Market Integration and The Feldstein–Horioka Puzzle: Evidence from Emerging Market Economies," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(1), pages 143-165, December.
    9. AmirKhalkhali, Saleh & Dar, Atul & AmirKhalkhali, Samad, 2003. "Saving-investment correlations, capital mobility and crowding out: some further results," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 1137-1149, December.
    10. Mariam Camarero & Juan Sapena & Cecilio Tamarit, 2018. "FH Puzzle in the Eurozone: A time-varying analysis Preliminary Draft," Working Papers 1813, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    11. Mariam Camarero & Juan Sapena & Cecilio Tamarit, 2020. "Modelling Time-Varying Parameters in Panel Data State-Space Frameworks: An Application to the Feldstein–Horioka Puzzle," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 87-114, June.
    12. Francesca Iorio & Stefano Fachin, 2014. "Savings and investments in the OECD: a panel cointegration study with a new bootstrap test," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 1271-1300, June.
    13. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2009-020 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Daniel Levy, 1995. "Investment-saving comovement under endogenous fiscal policy," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 237-254, July.
    15. Jean-Pierre Berdot & Gérard Kébabdjian & Jacques Léonard, 2003. "Corrélations investissement-épargne et mobilité internationale des capitaux," Recherches économiques de Louvain, De Boeck Université, vol. 69(1), pages 5-39.
    16. Joaquin Pi-Anguita, 1999. "A cointegration approach to capital mobility: Evidence for Belgium," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 27(1), pages 53-58, March.
    17. Evans, Paul & Kim, Bong-Han & Oh, Keun-Yeob, 2008. "Capital mobility in saving and investment: A time-varying coefficients approach," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 806-815, September.
    18. Feldstein, Martin, 2007. "Why is the dollar so high?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 661-667.
    19. Wolfgang Keller & Carol H. Shiue & Xin Wang, 2020. "Capital markets and grain prices: assessing the storage cost approach," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(2), pages 367-396, May.
    20. Tsung Wu Ho, 2000. "Regime-switching investment-saving correlation and international capital mobility," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(9), pages 619-622.
    21. B. Douglas Bernheim, 1988. "Budget Deficits and the Balance of Trade," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy: Volume 2, pages 1-32, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    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:bla:ajecsc:v:83:y:2024:i:2:p:393-406. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246 .

    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.