The Anatomy of a Credit Crisis: The Boom and Bust in Farm Land Prices in the United States in the 1920s

60 Pages Posted: 30 Dec 2012 Last revised: 20 Oct 2015

See all articles by Raghuram G. Rajan

Raghuram G. Rajan

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; International Monetary Fund (IMF); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Rodney Ramcharan

University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 1, 2014

Abstract

Does credit availability exacerbate asset price inflation? What channels could it work through? What are the long run consequences? In this paper we address these questions by examining the farm land price boom (and bust) in the United States that preceded the Great Depression. We find that credit availability likely had a direct effect on inflating land prices. Credit availability may have also amplified the relationship between the perceived improvement in fundamentals and land prices. When the perceived fundamentals soured, however, areas with higher ex ante credit availability suffered a greater fall in land prices, and experienced higher bank failure rates. Land prices stayed low for a number of decades after the bust in areas that had higher credit availability, suggesting that the effects of booms and busts induced by credit availability might be persistent. We draw lessons for regulatory policy.

Keywords: Consumer Credit, banking, land prices

JEL Classification: E44, G21

Suggested Citation

Rajan, Raghuram G. and Ramcharan, Rodney, The Anatomy of a Credit Crisis: The Boom and Bust in Farm Land Prices in the United States in the 1920s (September 1, 2014). American Economic Review, Forthcoming, FEDS Working Paper No. 2012-62, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2194581 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2194581

Raghuram G. Rajan

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Rodney Ramcharan (Contact Author)

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HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/rodneyramcharan/

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