TY  - JOUR
AU  - Rajan,Raghuram G.
AU  - Ramcharan,Rodney
TI  - Landed Interests and Financial Underdevelopment in the United States
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14347
PY  - 2008
Y2  - September 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14347
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14347.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Raghuram Rajan
Booth School of Business
University of Chicago
5807 South Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/702-4437
Fax: 773/702-0458
E-Mail: raghuram.rajan@ChicagoBooth.edu

Rodney Ramcharan
Federal Reserve Board
Washington DC
Tel: 202-912-7851 
Fax: 202-452-5295
E-Mail: rodney.ramcharan@frb.gov
AB  - Landed elites in the United States in the early decades of the twentieth century played a significant role in restricting the development of finance. States that had higher land concentration passed more restrictive banking legislation. At the county level, counties with very concentrated land holdings tended to have disproportionately fewer banks per capita. Banks were especially scarce both when landed elites' incentive to suppress finance, as well as their ability to exercise local influence, was higher. Finally, the resulting financial underdevelopment was negatively correlated with subsequent manufacturing growth. We draw lessons from this episode for understanding economic development.
ER  -