Gaming the System: The Not-So-Poor and Savings Banks in Antebellum New York

Cormac Ó Gráda, Tyler Anbinder and Simone Wegge

No 202311, Working Papers from School of Economics, University College Dublin

Abstract: Savings banks owe their origin to an early nineteenth century campaign to teach the poor thrift and thereby avoid poverty in old age. As an institution they grew and thrived in the following decades, but whether they achieved their objective remains moot. Most account-holders did not accumulate nest eggs in the prescribed manner, and many were not even poor. This paper exploits the rich archives of one New York savings bank to illustrate these points.

Keywords: Savings banks; Account holders; Socio-economic status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2023-04
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