神戸大学金融研究会(RIEBセミナー共催)
Monetary Economics Seminar of Kobe University (Jointly supported by RIEB Seminar)

日時:
(Date&Time)
5月28日(月)午後3時から (Monday, May 28, 3:00pm〜)
報告者:
(Speaker)
David WEIMAN 氏
所属:
(Affiliation)
コロンビア大学
(Columbia University)
論題:
(Topic)
"Towards a More Perfect U.S. Payments Union: The Civil War as a Second Revolution"
(より完全な米国の決済システム統合に向けて:第2のアメリカ革命としての南北戦争)
概要:
(Abstract)


We focus on a neglected dimension of the Reconstruction era, the formation of a more integrated national payments architecture, based on the circulation of bank drafts and deposits through the emerging national correspondent banking system centered in New York. Our explanation focuses on the unintended impacts of Civil War fiscal and banking policies, which created a national currency-unit of account and centralized interbank transactions in New York. By the end of Reconstruction in 1877, we show, New York drafts and deposits had become a truly national payments instrument and means of payment. Our analysis thus confirms Beard’s thesis that Civil War policies constituted a Second American Revolution by forging a more unified national economy and thereby paving the way for large-scale industrialization.
Our empirical analysis examines the "domestic exchange" market, where banks bought and sold a variety of payments instruments, ranging from sight and short-term "commercial" bills to bank drafts or checks. Our qualitative analysis of markets in New York City and regional centers in the Midwest and South show the striking convergence of the market to a single kind of instrument, a bank draft drawn on a New York correspondent (and to a lesser extent a New York sight bill) by the early 1870s. Our quantitative analysis then examines the variation in domestic exchange rates in regional centers, the percentage premium or discount on New York bank drafts. Like in foreign exchange markets the spot price of New York exchange in these markets could deviate from par (equal to 1) within bounds set by the costs of shipping currency. With data from several Midwestern and Southern cities, we document the step-like decline in exchange rate volatility and relate the turning points chronologically to policy innovations, initially Union fiscal that issued a common legal tender note (the "greenback") and later banking policies that created a uniform national currency, national bank notes, but also centralized interbank reserve transactions in New York.

会場:
(Place)
神戸大学経済経営研究所 会議室(研究所新館2階)
RIEB Meeting Room (New Building 2nd floor)
対象:
(Intended Audience)
基本的に会員制の研究会ですが、非会員で関心のある方の参加も歓迎します。
The seminar is primarily for the workshop members. But non-members are also welcome to attend.
備考:
(Note)
論文のコピーは開催日当日に会場にご用意いたします。
Copies of the paper will be available on that day of the seminar at meeting place.
セミナー参加を希望される方はお手数ですがご氏名、ご所属、ご連絡先(メ-ルアドレス)を事前に研究助成室までご連絡下さい。
If you would like to attend our workshop, please email us at Research Assistant Section your name, affiliation and email address beforehand.