A History of Banking in Antebellum America: Financial Markets and Economic Development in an Era of Nation-Building

ISBN-13: 9780521662857 / Angielski / Twarda / 2000 / 284 str.

Howard N. Bodenhorn

Opis

This history focuses on the credit generating function of American banks. It demonstrates that banks aggressively promoted economic development rather than passively following its course. Using previously unexploited data, Professor Bodenhorn shows that banks helped to advance the development of industrialization. Additionally, he shows that banks formed long-distance relationships that promoted geographic capital mobility, thereby assuring that short-term capital was directed in socially desirable directions. He then traces those institutional and legal developments that allowed for this capital mobility.

Recenzje

'Professor Bodenhorn's work both integrates earlier research and greatly extends our understanding of the evolution of the short-term capital markets in the United States. The book is certain to have an impact upon our interpretation of institutional evolution in the antebellum period. It should be a 'must read' for all serious economic historians of the United States.' Lance E. Davis, California Institute of Technology

Spis treści

1. Introduction: historical setting and three views of banking; 2. Financial development and economic growth in Antebellum America; 3. Financing entrepreneurship: banks, merchants and manufacturers; 4. The integration of short-term capital markets in Antebellum America; 5. Banks, brokers, and capital mobility; 6. Conclusion: how banks mattered.