Interbank Connections, Contagion and Bank Distress in the Great Depression

Download or read book Interbank Connections, Contagion and Bank Distress in the Great Depression written by Charles W. Calomiris and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liquidity shocks transmitted through interbank connections contributed to bank distress during the Great Depression. New data on interbank connections reveal that banks were much more likely to close when their correspondents closed. Further, after the Federal Reserve was established, banks' management of cash and capital buffers was less responsive to network liquidity risk, suggesting that banks expected the Fed to reduce that risk. Because the Fed's presence removed the incentives for the most systemically important banks to maintain capital and cash buffers that had protected against liquidity risk, it likely contributed to the banking system's vulnerability to contagion during the Depression.