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Bank Lending and Deposit Crunches during the Great Depression

Kris James Mitchener & Gary Richardson

The Journal of Economic History2025https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050725000166article
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.46

Abstract

Bank distress was a defining feature of the Great Depression in the United States. Most banks, however, weathered the storm and remained in operation throughout the contraction. We show that surviving banks cut lending when depositors withdrew funds en masse during panics. This panic-induced decline in lending explains about one-third of the reduction in aggregate commercial bank lending between 1929 and 1932, more than twice as much as attributed to the failure of banks.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050725000166

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@article{kris2025,
  title        = {{Bank Lending and Deposit Crunches during the Great Depression}},
  author       = {Kris James Mitchener & Gary Richardson},
  journal      = {The Journal of Economic History},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050725000166},
}

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Bank Lending and Deposit Crunches during the Great Depression

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Evidence weight

0.46

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.37 × 0.4 = 0.15
M · momentum0.60 × 0.15 = 0.09
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.