TY  - JOUR
AU  - Atack, Jeremy
AU  - Jaremski, Matthew S
AU  - Rousseau, Peter L
TI  - Did Railroads Make Antebellum U.S. Banks More Sound?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 20032
PY  - 2014
Y2  - April 2014
DO  - 10.3386/w20032
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w20032
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w20032.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jeremy Atack
Department of Economics
Vanderbilt University
VU Station B #351819
2301 Vanderbilt Place
Nashville, TN 37235-1819
Tel: 615-343-2467
Fax: 615/343-8495
E-Mail: jeremy.atack@vanderbilt.edu

Matthew S. Jaremski
Utah State University
Department of Economics and Finance
3565 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322
E-Mail: matthew.jaremski@usu.edu

Peter L. Rousseau
Vanderbilt University
Department of Economics
Box 1819, Station B
Nashville, TN 37235
Tel: 615/343-2466
Fax: 615/343-8425
E-Mail: peter.l.rousseau@vanderbilt.edu
M1  - published as Jeremy Atack, Matthew S. Jaremski, Peter L. Rousseau. "Did Railroads Make Antebellum U.S. Banks More Sound?," in William J. Collins and Robert A. Margo, editors, "Enterprising America: Businesses, Banks, and Credit Markets in Historical Perspective" University of Chicago Press (2015)

M3  - presented at "Enterprising America:", December 14, 2013
AB  - We investigate the relationships of bank failures and balance sheet conditions with measures of proximity to different forms of transportation in the United States over the period from 1830-1860. A series of hazard models and bank-level regressions indicate a systematic relationship between proximity to railroads (but not to other means of transportation) and "good" banking outcomes. Although railroads improved economic conditions along their routes, we offer evidence of another channel.  Specifically, railroads facilitated better information flows about banks that led to modifications in bank asset composition consistent with reductions in the incidence of moral hazard.
ER  -