Financing late industrialization evidence from the State Bank of the Russian Empire

Marvin Süße and Theocharis Grigoriadis
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Marvin Suesse

No 2025/2, Discussion Papers from Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics

Abstract: Gerschenkron (1962) argued that public institutions such as the State Bank of the Russian Empire spurred the country's industrialization. We test this assertion by exploiting plant-level variation in access to State Bank branches using a unique geocoded factory data set. Employing an identification strategy based on geographical distances between banks and factories, our results show improved access to public banking encouraged faster growth in factory-level revenue, mechanization, and labor productivity. In line with theories of late industrialization, we also find evidence that public credit mattered more in regions where commercial banks were fewer and markets were smaller.

Keywords: industrialization; economic geography; banking; industrial policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G28 L52 N23 O14 P41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-fdg, nep-his and nep-ure
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Working Paper: Financing Late Industrialization: Evidence from the State Bank of the Russian Empire (2025)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:315202

DOI: 10.17169/refubium-46757

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