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Close but not a Central Bank: The New York Clearing House and Issues of Clearing House Loan Certificates

2013; Linguagem: Inglês

10.26509/frbc-wp-201308

2573-7953

Jon R. Moen, Ellis W. Tallman,

Housing Market and Economics

The paper examines the New York Clearing House (NYCH) as a lender of last resort by looking at clearing-house-loan-certificate borrowing during five banking panics of the National Banking Era (1863-1913). In that system, adequate aggregate liquidity provision was passive and dependent upon member bank borrowing. We document bank borrowing behavior using bank-level data for clearing-house loan certificates issued to NYCH member banks. The historical record reveals that the large New York City banks behaved in ways that resembled those of a central bank in 1884 and in 1890, but less so in the more severe crises.