Fighting Financial Crises

Gary B. Gorton is the Frederick Frank Class of 1954 Professor of Management and professor of finance at Yale University School of Management and a research associate of the NBER. He is the author of many books, including, most recently, The Maze of Banking: History, Theory, Crisis. Ellis W. Tallman is executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. He has published extensively on macroeconomics, economic forecasting, and historical episodes of financial crisis in several top journals.

• Preface1 Fighting Financial Crises: Learning from the Past2 The New York Clearing House Association3 The Start of a Panic4 What the New York Clearing House Did during National Banking Era Panics5 Information Production and Suppression and Emergency Liquidity6 “Too Big to Fail” before the Fed7 Certified Checks and the Currency Premium8 The Change in Depositors’ Beliefs during Suspension9 Aftermath10 What Ends a Financial Crisis? Historical Reminders11 Modern Crises: Perspectives from History12 Guiding Principles for Fighting CrisesAppendixesNotesReferencesIndex

"Gorton and Tallman’s historical details of the panics of the 1800s for the New York banks at the epicenter of the financial system are unequaled, based on my research. The authors have taken stories from the contemporary New York press and employed available financial data from bank reports to develop a narrative and accompanying tables that bring to life the panics of that era. These details alone make the book worthy of a place on any financial historian’s bookshelf."