Market Power and Bank Lending: Some Evidence from Wisconsin, 1870–1900
- 1 March 1980
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in The Journal of Economic History
- Vol. 40 (1) , 45-52
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050700104516
Abstract
The pioneering work of Lance Davis on regional bank loan rates in the United States from 1870 to 1914 generated several attempts to explain the observed regional interest rate differentials and their subsequent narrowing by 1914. This article reports on a more direct test of the hypothesis that barriers to capital mobility were due to monopoly power on the part of local bankers. Tests using data on individual banks and local markets for one state, Wisconsin, suggest that local competitive conditions did not exert a significant influence on bank lending performance. This may be the result of relatively free entry into Wisconsin banking during the period.Keywords
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