Did Bank Distress Stifle Innovation During the Great Depression?

Ramana Nanda and Tom Nicholas

No 20392, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We find a negative relationship between bank distress and the level, quality and trajectory of firm-level innovation during the Great Depression, particularly for R&D firms operating in capital intensive industries. However, we also show that because a sufficient number of R&D intensive firms were located in counties with lower levels of bank distress, or were operating in less capital intensive industries, the negative effects were mitigated in aggregate. Although Depression era bank distress was associated with the stifling of innovation, our results also help to explain why technological development was still robust following one of the largest shocks in the history of the U.S. banking system.

JEL-codes: G21 N22 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cfn, nep-eff, nep-his, nep-ino and nep-tid
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Published as Nanda, Ramana & Nicholas, Tom, 2014. "Did bank distress stifle innovation during the Great Depression?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 273-292.

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