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The Role Of Financial Relationships In The History Of American Corporate Finance

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  • Charles W. Calomiris
  • Carlos D. Ramirez
Abstract
The American corporate financing system, unlike that of most other countries, has not been organized around a set of “universal banks” that perform a variety of functions for their clients. Indeed, the distinguishing feature of American financial history is the number and variety of financial intermediaries, and their relationships with corporations (and one another). Besides commercial banks, there are investment banks, insurance companies, venture capitalists, commercial paper dealers, mutual funds, and many others. The economic role of such intermediaries is to reduce market frictions such as “asymmetric information” and “agency problems” that otherwise raise the cost of outside capital for U.S. companies. This article views the changing menu of such intermediaries and their networks as the driving force behind the evolution of American corporate finance. U.S. financial history is seen as a series of institutional and financial innovations designed in large part to work around costly restrictions on relationships–particularly, limits on the scale and scope of U.S. banks–that do not exist in most other countries. In terms of its success in reducing the information and control costs of corporate finance, the history of the American financial system includes periods of significant progress as well as major reversals. Three relatively successful periods– the early 19th‐century in New England, the “incipient” universal banking of the 1920s, and modernday financial capitalism–are separated by periods of drastic reductions in the menu of financial relationships– particularly the Great Depression and its 20‐year aftermath. Besides new financial claims like preferred stock and new intermediaries such as venture capitalists, another important innovation is new forms of cooperation among intermediaries– especially among banks, venture capitalists, trusts, pensions, and investment banks–that have enabled the U.S. financial system to provide some of the key advantages of universal banking systems. Some of the largest U.S. commercial banks today can be viewed as positioning themselves to play a central coordinating role in these new coalitions of intermediaries. In so doing, they may become the platform for a distinctively American universal banking system.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles W. Calomiris & Carlos D. Ramirez, 1996. "The Role Of Financial Relationships In The History Of American Corporate Finance," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 9(2), pages 52-73, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jacrfn:v:9:y:1996:i:2:p:52-73
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6622.1996.tb00115.x
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    2. Brian Uzzi & Ryon Lancaster, 2003. "Relational Embeddedness and Learning: The Case of Bank Loan Managers and Their Clients," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 383-399, April.
    3. Minton, Bernadette & Sanders, Anthony & Strahan, Philip E., 2004. "Securitization by Banks and Finance Companies: Efficient Financial Contracting or Regulatory Arbitrage?," Working Paper Series 2004-25, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    4. Benveniste, Lawrence M. & Busaba, Walid Y. & Wilhelm, William Jr., 2002. "Information Externalities and the Role of Underwriters in Primary Equity Markets," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 61-86, January.
    5. Charles Calomiris & Joseph Mason, 2004. "Credit Card Securitization and Regulatory Arbitrage," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 26(1), pages 5-27, August.
    6. Sandeep Baliga & Ben Polak, 1998. "Banks Versus Bonds: the Emergence and Persistence of Two Financial Systems," Discussion Papers 1221, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    7. Malcolm Anderson, 1998. "Accounting History Publications, 1995/6," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 105-124.
    8. Oscar Gelderblom & Joost Jonker & Ruben Peeters & Amaury de Vicq, 2023. "Exploring modern bank penetration: Evidence from early twentieth‐century Netherlands," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(3), pages 892-916, August.

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