AMERICAN STUDIES Group 6: T Vn n Phm Thu Trang Phm Th Nhn

Topic: Throughout American history, economic crises have played critical roles in
reshaping the nations economic system. Choose either the Great Depression in the 1930s or the ongoing economic downturn to prove this point. Essay: Throughout American history, economic crises have played critical roles in reshaping the nations economic system. We see it clearly via the changes of banking system after Great depression. Two most changes in USA banking systems is operating branch banking more instead of weak unit banking and the development of banking insurance within each state. At this time, the three most important regulatory policy responses to the Great Depression (Regulation Q, the separation of investment banking from commercial banking, and the creation of federal deposit insurance which was designed to perpetuate unit banking) were to preserve and enhance two of the most disastrous policies that contributed to the severity and depth of the Great Depression unit banking and the real bills doctrine. Unit banking refers to a single bank which renders services and operates without any branches anywhere. The unit banking was understood to be responsible for many problems that contributed to the peculiar instability of U.S. banking. First, the unit banking brought the barriers to entry prevented productive competition among banks. Unit banks could only face competition from other unit banks, all of which faced high overhead costs that limited entry, especially in rural areas; low-overhead branching by banks headquartered elsewhere was prohibited. Second, unit banking produced lack of diversification of loan risk within banks, as each banks portfolio risk reflected the operations of its local economy. In agricultural areas,

that meant that the income of banks was closely related to changes in the prices and harvests of one or two crops. Third, unit banking inhibited financial integration across regions, which resulted in large differences in interest rates between the East and the West, and high seasonal volatility in liquidity risk. Such bad effects of unit banking system, many states had relaxed branching restrictions within their states in reaction to the banking distress of the 1920s. Fifteen states changed their regulations between 1920 and 1939 to allow expanded branching (Branch banking center or financial center refers to a single bank which operates through various branches in a city or in different locations or out of the cities.). When Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was inaugurated in March 1933, FDR's first act as President was to declare a national "bank holiday" closing the banks for a three-day cooling off period. America launched a vast economic stimulus program called the New Deal containing Emergency Banking Act. To ensure an adequate supply of currency, the Act provided for the issuance of Federal Reserve Notes, which were to be backed by U.S. government securities. The Federal Reserve Banks were empowered to advance the new currency to member banks without requiring much collateral. Besides, the new Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) lured people back to banks. The creation of the FDIC as part of the New Deal certainly contributed to the recovery. These principles included financing the federal deposit insurance fund through assessments; the use of rigorous bank examination and supervision to limit the exposure of the fund; and other elements, such as standards for failedbank payoffs and liquidations, intended to minimize the economic disruptions caused by bank failures. Great Depression had big influences on US banking system. From that time, US banking system have focused on developing both unit banking and branch banking. Besides, the Government concerned more about the insurance for banking system to ensure it operates well. References:

1. http://www.diffen.com/difference/Branch_Banking_vs_Unit_Banking 2. https://www.google.com.vn/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF8&q=banking+system+befroe+and+after+depression+U%CC%81 3. Political lessons of Depression Era banking reform. Retrieved from http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/ccalomiris/papers/CalomirisGreatDepressionBankRegul atoryReform2010.pdf 4. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (1998), A brief history of deposit insurance in the US. Retrieved from http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/brief/brhist.pdf