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The U.S. Banking System From a Northern Exposure: Stability versus Efficiency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Michael D. Bordo ,
Hugh Rockoff  and
Angela Redish
Michael D. Bordo
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903.
Hugh Rockoff
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T1Y2, Canada.
Angela Redish
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903
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Abstract

This article asks whether the vaunted comparative stability of the Canadian banking system has been purchased at the cost of creating an oligopoly. We assembled a data set that compares bank failures, lending rates, interest paid on deposits, and related variables over the period 1920 to 1980. Our principal findings are (1) interest rates paid on deposits were generally higher in Canada; (2) interest income received on securities was generally slightly higher in Canada; (3) interest rates charged on loans were generally quite similar; and (4) net rates of return to equity were generally higher in Canada than in the United States.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , June 1994 , pp. 325 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1994

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