U.S. Bank Deregulation in Historical Perspective

This book shows how and why deregulation has transformed the size, structure and geographic range of US banks, the scope of banking services, and the nature of bank-customer relationships.

Charles W. Calomiris (Author)

9780521028387, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 November 2006

392 pages, 2 b/w illus. 75 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.584 kg

'I enthusiastically recommend the book to both banking scholars who will find that it offers a bold, coherent vision of the industry's evolution, and to general economists who will enjoy seeing the basic tools of economics used so deftly. The Calomiris view is sure to command attention as the debate over the evolution of the financial services industry continues.' Anil Kashyap, University of Chicago

This book shows how and why deregulation has transformed the size, structure and geographic range of US banks, the scope of banking services, and the nature of bank-customer relationships. Over recent decades the characteristics that had made American banks different - the fragmented geographical structure of the industry, which restricted the scale of banks and their ability to compete with one another, and strict limits on the kinds of products and services commercial banks could offer - have virtually been eliminated. Understanding the origins and persistence of the unique banking regulations that defined US banking for over a century lends an important perspective on the economic and political causes and consequences of the current process of deregulation. History helps to define the political constituencies for and against deregulation, the political process through which bank regulations are determined, and the way deregulation is likely to affect future bank performance and stability.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Regulation, industrial structure, and instability in U.S. banking: an historical perspective
2. The origins of banking panics: models, facts, and bank regulation with Gary Gorton
3. The origins of federal deposit insurance with Eugene N. White
4. The costs of rejecting universal banking: American finance in the German mirror
5. The evolution of market structure, information, and spreads in American investment banking with Daniel M. G. Raff
6. Universal banking, 'American style'
Indexes.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ]