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Usury Ceilings, Relationships and Bank Lending Behavior: Evidence from Nineteenth Century

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Listed author(s):
  • Howard Bodenhorn

Abstract

Few pieces of economic regulation are ubiquitous as usury limits. Similarly, few economic principles are as widely accepted as the belief that interference with freely contracted prices leads to market distortions, and many studies of financial markets find that usury limits negatively affect credit availability. This study shows that when no regulatory authority monitors and stands ready to punish violators of the usury limit when intermediaries and borrowers form long-term relationships, banks and borrowers regularly contract for interest rates in excess of the usury ceiling. Time series analysis reveals limited effects on credit availability when market rates exceed the usury ceiling. Cross-sectional analysis of individual loan contracts also shows that the positive effect of a long-term relationship offsets the negative effect of the usury limit on credit availability.

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File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w11734.pdf
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 11734.

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Date of creation: Nov 2005
Publication status: published as Bodenhorn, Howard, 2007. "Usury ceilings and bank lending behavior: Evidence from nineteenth century New York," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 179-202, April.
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11734
Note: DAE
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Find related papers by JEL classification:

  • N2 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions
  • N8 - Economic History - - Micro-Business History
  • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services

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  1. Boyes, W J & Furnish, Dale Beck, 1984. "A Note on the Use of Incorporation as an Escape from Usury Ceilings," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 367-372, March.
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  7. Bodenhorn, Howard, 2003. " Short-Term Loans and Long-Term Relationships: Relationship Lending in Early America," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(4), pages 485-505, August.
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  17. Sharpe, Steven A, 1990. " Asymmetric Information, Bank Lending, and Implicit Contracts: A Stylized Model of Customer Relationships," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1069-1087, September.
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  19. Donato Masciandaro, 2001. "In Offense of Usury Laws: Microfoundations of Illegal Credit Contracts," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 193-215, November.
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Cited by:

  1. Efraim Benmelech & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2010. "The Political Economy of Financial Regulation: Evidence from U.S. State Usury Laws in the 19th Century," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1029-1073, 06.

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