Financial Failure and Depositor Quality: Evidence from Building and Loan Associations in California

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve System Board of Governors
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050722000511
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 87-130
• 关键词: great-depression; bank failures; contagion; CRISIS; sales; RISK; runs

摘要

Flightiness, or depositor sensitivity to liquidity needs, can be an important determinant of financial distress. I leverage institutional differences-that attract depositors with varying flightiness-across building and loan associations in California during the Great Depression. A new type of plan, the Dayton plan, involved less restrictive savings plans and lower withdrawal penalties. Dayton plans in California were more likely to close during the Great Depression. Archival evidence on lending rates and returns supports the flightiness mechanism.