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Working Papers, No. 2024-17, August 2024 Crossref
Natural Disasters, Local Bank Market Share, and Economic Recovery

U.S. interstate bank deregulation during the 1980s and 1990s led to larger, nationally diversified banks, and a decline in the number of local community banks. Economic theory suggests that community banks may have a greater incentive, but a lower capacity, to lend to a region following a destructive event such as a natural disaster. We test whether there are differences in post-disaster credit allocation and regional redevelopment based on the concentration of local banking at the time of an economic shock. We find causal evidence of less credit allocated and somewhat weaker redevelopment in regions with more local banking.


Working papers are not edited, and all opinions and errors are the responsibility of the author(s). The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago or the Federal Reserve System.

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