Credit and social unrest: Evidence from 1930s China

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Braggion, Fabio; Manconi, Alberto; Zhu, Haikun
• 署名单位: Tilburg University; Bocconi University; Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC; Erasmus University Rotterdam
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2020.05.001
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 295-315
• 关键词: Credit shocks; Social Unrest

摘要

Do credit contractions trigger social unrest? To answer this question, we turn to a natural experiment from 1930s China, where the 1933 U.S. Silver Purchase program acts as a shock to bank lending. We assemble a hand-collected data set of loan contracts between banks and firms, labor unrest episodes, and underground Communist Party penetration. The Sil-ver Purchase shock results in a severe credit contraction, and firms borrowing from banks with a larger exposure to it experience increased labor unrest and Communist Party penetration among their workers. These findings contribute to understanding the socio-political consequences of credit shocks. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.