Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Bank Failures and Near Failures That Started America’s Greatest Financial Panics

This paper had its origin in a conversation with Albrecht Ritschl, who asked a number of searching questions about the history of U.S. banking panics shortly after the 2008 financial crisis, some of which I finally answer here. I presented a paper covering some of these issues at a conference at Indiana University in October 2014, celebrating the scholarship of Elmus Wicker. I thank the participants in that conference, especially my discussant Richard Sylla, for helpful comments. That paper was also presented at a meeting of the Chicago Friends of Economic History in May 2015. On that occasion, questions raised by Lou Cain were especially helpful. Comments received during and after my presentation at the 2020 meeting of the Economic History Association were valuable. Farley Grubb, Eric Hilt, Jeffrey R. Hummel, and my Rutgers colleagues Michael Bordo and Eugene White also provided insightful comments and encouragement. Mriga Bansal, Andrew Garib, and Jessica Schlossberg provided able research assistance. The remaining errors are mine. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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