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Wildcat bankers or political failure? : The Irish financial pantomime, 1797–1826

Kenny, Sean LU and Turner, John D. (2019) In European Review of Economic History 24(3). p.522-577
Abstract
Using a new biography of banks, we examine the stability of Irish banking from 1797 to 1826 by constructing a failure rate series. We find that the ultimate cause of the frequent and severe banking crises was the crisis-prone structure of the banking system, which was designed to benefit the political elite. There is little evidence to suggest that wildcat banking or the failure of the Bank of Ireland to act as a lender of last resort were to blame. We also find that the main economic effect of the episodic crises was major diminutions in the money supply.
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Banking stability, Political economy, Private banks, Ireland, Banking crises
in
European Review of Economic History
volume
24
issue
3
article number
hez010
pages
56 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85092321212
ISSN
1474-0044
DOI
10.1093/ereh/hez010
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
57f1dee7-efd5-4f53-bfad-4ae7d080b650
date added to LUP
2020-06-10 10:15:02
date last changed
2022-04-18 22:48:56
@article{57f1dee7-efd5-4f53-bfad-4ae7d080b650,
  abstract     = {{Using a new biography of banks, we examine the stability of Irish banking from 1797 to 1826 by constructing a failure rate series. We find that the ultimate cause of the frequent and severe banking crises was the crisis-prone structure of the banking system, which was designed to benefit the political elite. There is little evidence to suggest that wildcat banking or the failure of the Bank of Ireland to act as a lender of last resort were to blame. We also find that the main economic effect of the episodic crises was major diminutions in the money supply.}},
  author       = {{Kenny, Sean and Turner, John D.}},
  issn         = {{1474-0044}},
  keywords     = {{Banking stability; Political economy; Private banks; Ireland; Banking crises}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{522--577}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{European Review of Economic History}},
  title        = {{Wildcat bankers or political failure? : The Irish financial pantomime, 1797–1826}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ereh/hez010}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/ereh/hez010}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}