Search Results
Digital Economic History Library FRASER Adds More than 35,000 Items
Digital library FRASER added 35,000-plus new items over the past year, including new collections from partners across the Federal Reserve System and the federal government.
Journal Article
So Far, So Good: Government Insurance of Financial Sector Tail Risk
The US government has intervened to provide extraordinary support 16 times from 1970 to 2020 with the goal of preventing or mitigating (or both) the cost of financial instability to the financial sector and the real economy. This article discusses the motivation for such support, reviewing the instances where support was provided, along with one case where it was expected but not provided. The article then discusses the moral hazard and fiscal risks posed by the government's insurance of the tail risk along with ways to reduce the government's risk exposure.
Report
Bank Runs With and Without Bank Failure
We study the causes and consequences of bank runs. By applying large language models to historical newspapers, we create a comprehensive database of bank runs in U.S. history with information on 3,984 runs on individual banks from 1863 to 1934. Our novel data allow us to establish that runs are considerably more likely in weak banks but also occur in strong banks, especially in response to negative news about the real economy or the broader banking system. However, runs typically only result in failure for banks with poor fundamentals. Strong banks survive runs through various mechanisms, ...
The Story of U.S. Central Banking
The history of the creation of U.S. central banks includes political battles, financial crises, 77 years without a central bank—and one founding father’s enduring vision.