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The political lessons of Depression-era banking reform

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  • Charles W. Calomiris

Abstract

The banking legislation of the 1930s took very little time to pass, was unusually comprehensive, and unusually responsive to public opinion. Ironically, the primary motivations for the main bank regulatory reforms in the 1930s (Regulation Q, the separation of investment banking from commercial banking, and the creation of federal deposit insurance) were to preserve and enhance two of the most disastrous policies that contributed to the severity and depth of the Great Depression--unit banking and the real bills doctrine. Other regulatory changes, affecting the allocation of power between the Federal Reserve System (Fed) and the Treasury, were intended to reduce the independence of the Fed, while giving the opposite impression. Banking reforms in the 1930s had significant negative consequences for the future of US banking, and took a long time to disappear. The overarching lesson is that the aftermath of crises are moments of high risk in public policy. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles W. Calomiris, 2010. "The political lessons of Depression-era banking reform," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(3), pages 540-560, Autumn.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:26:y:2010:i:3:p:540-560
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oxrep/grq020
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    Cited by:

    1. Matthew Baron & Wei Xiong, 2017. "Credit Expansion and Neglected Crash Risk," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 713-764.
    2. Charles W. Calomiris & Matthew Jaremski, 2016. "Deposit Insurance: Theories and Facts," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 97-120, October.
    3. Luke Petach, 2020. "Local financialization, household debt, and the great recession," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 807-839, June.
    4. Calomiris, Charles W. & Flandreau, Marc & Laeven, Luc, 2016. "Political foundations of the lender of last resort: A global historical narrative," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 48-65.
    5. Brian Grinder & Robert Sarikas & Dean Kiefer & Arsen Djatej, 2015. "The Financial Crisis: Lessons from History," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 4(1), pages 01-16, January.
    6. Charles W. Calomiris, 2019. "How to Promote Fed Independence: Perspectives from Political Economy and History," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 31(4), pages 21-42, December.
    7. Esteban Pérez Caldentey & Matias Vernengo, 2012. "Heterodox Central Bankers: Eccles, Prebisch and Financial Reform in 1930s," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2012_04, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    8. Crafts, Nicholas, 2013. "Long-Term Growth in Europe: What Difference does the Crisis Make?," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 224, pages 14-28, May.
    9. Calomiris, Charles W. & Mason, Joseph R. & Weidenmier, Marc & Bobroff, Katherine, 2013. "The effects of reconstruction finance corporation assistance on Michigan's banks' survival in the 1930s," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 526-547.
    10. Nicholas Crafts & Peter Fearon, 2010. "Lessons from the 1930s Great Depression," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(3), pages 285-317, Autumn.
    11. Calomiris, Charles W. (Каломирис, Чарльз) & Haber, Stephen H. (Хабер, Стивен Х.), 2016. "Fragile by design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit [Непрочные По Конструкции: Политические Причины Банковских Кризисов И Дефицита Кредитов]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 4, pages 7-34, August.
    12. Jihad Dagher, 2018. "Regulatory Cycles: Revisiting the Political Economy of Financial Crises," IMF Working Papers 2018/008, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Albrecht Ritschl, 2012. "War 2008 das neue 1929? Richtige und falsche Vergleiche zwischen der Großen Depression der 1930er Jahre und der Großen Rezession von 2008," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 13, pages 36-57, May.
    14. William A. Allen & Richhild Moessner, 2011. "The international propagation of the financial crisis of 2008 and a comparison with 1931," BIS Working Papers 348, Bank for International Settlements.
    15. Barry Eichengreen, 2016. "The Great Depression in a Modern Mirror," De Economist, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Price V. Fishback & John Joseph Wallis, 2012. "What Was New About the New Deal?," NBER Working Papers 18271, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Bartolozzi, D. & Gara, M. & Marchetti, D.J. & Masciandaro, D., 2022. "Designing the anti-money laundering supervisor: The governance of the financial intelligence units," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1093-1109.
    18. Knake, Sebastian, 2024. "The fate of the passbook: Why it vanished in the US but survived in Germany during the stagflation period (1966-1983)," Working Papers 46, German Research Foundation's Priority Programme 1859 "Experience and Expectation. Historical Foundations of Economic Behaviour", Humboldt University Berlin.
    19. Robert A. Eisenbeis & George G. Kaufman, 2016. "Not All Financial Crises Are Alike!," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 44(1), pages 1-31, March.
    20. Sabaté, Marcela & Fillat, Carmen & Escario, Regina, 2019. "Budget deficits and money creation: Exploring their relation before Bretton Woods," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 38-56.
    21. Ilias Anthopoulos & Christos N.Pitelis, "undated". "The Nature, Performance, Economic Impact and Regulation of Investment Banking," Working papers wpaper137, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.

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