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Matthew Jaremski and Peter Rousseau
 
''Banks, free banks, and U.S. economic growth''
 
 
The “Federalist financial revolution” may have jump-started the U.S. economy into modern growth, but the Free Banking System (1837-1862) did not play a direct role in sustaining it. Despite lowering entry barriers and extending banking into developing regions, we find in county-level data that free banks had little or no effect on growth. The result is not just a symptom of the era, as state-chartered banks seem to have strong and positive effects on manufacturing and urbanization.
 
 
Keywords: Free banking; antebellum banking; financial liberalization; finance-led growth
JEL: E0 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics: General
N0 - Economic History: General
 
Manuscript Received : Oct 10 2012 Manuscript Accepted : Dec 04 2012

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