Gary Richardson

Picture of Gary Richardson
Professor, Economics
School of Social Sciences
B.A., University of Chicago, 1988, Political Science
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1999, Economics
Phone: (949) 824-5089
Fax: (949) 824-2182
Email: garyr@uci.edu
University of California, Irvine
3127 Social Sciences Plaza
Department of Economics
Mail Code: 5100
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Economic History, Macroeconomics, Great Depression, Industrial Revolution, Property Rights and Economic Development
Academic Distinctions
Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research
Research Abstract
Professor Richardson's research focuses on several areas. One is the history of the Federal Reserve, particularly its role as a lender of last resort during financial crises such as those that occurred in 1930 through 1933 and 2007 through 2009. A second is the causes and consequences of financial crises, particularly the banking panics of the Great Depression. A third is the how changes in institutions, particularly property rights, influenced the Industrial Revolution in Britain. A fourth is the organization and agriculture in early modern Europe and the connection between social, religious, and industrial change.
Publications
“Does ‘skin in the game’ reduce risk taking? Leverage, liability and the long-run consequences of new deal banking reforms.” With Kris Mitchener. Explorations in Economic History 2013, 50 (4), 508-525
“Shadowy Banks and Financial Contagion during the Great Depression: A Retrospective on Friedman and Schwartz.” With Kris Mitchener. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 2013, 103(3): 73–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.3.73
“Stopping Suicide Attacks: Optimal Strategies and Unintended Consequences.” With Mike McBride. Defense and Peace Economics, 2012, 23(5) October: 413-429.
“Arresting Banking Panics: Federal Reserve Liquidity Provision and the Forgotten Panic of 1929.” With Mark Carlson and Kris Mitchener. Journal of Political Economy, 2011, 119(5): 889-924.
“Retail Trade by Federal Reserve District, 1919 to 1939: A Statistical History.” With Haelim Park. Research in Economic History, 2012, 28, 151-231.
“Property Rights and Parliament in Industrializing Britain.” (with Dan Bogart). Journal of Law and Economics. Volume 54. Issue 2. Pp. 241-274 (lead article).
“Fetters of Debt, Deposit, or Gold during the Great Depression? The International Propagation of the Banking Crisis of 1931.” (with Patrick Van Horn) Forthcoming in Jahrbuch fuer Wirtschaftsgeschichte. Volume (2011/12), Issue 2.
“Monetary Intervention Mitigated Banking Panics During the Great Depression: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Federal Reserve District Border in Mississippi, 1929 to 1933,” (with William Troost). Journal of Political Economy, December 2009, vol. 117, no. 6, pp. 1031-1073.
“Estate acts, 1600–1830: A new source for British history,” (with Dan Bogart). Research in Economic History, Volume 27, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2010, pp.1-50 (Lead Article)
“Religion, Longevity, and Cooperation: The Case of the Craft Guild,” (with Mike McBride). Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. Volume 71, Issue 2, August 2009, pp. 172-186
“Intensified Regulatory Scrutiny and Bank Distress in New York City during the Great Depression,” (with Patrick Van Horn). Journal of Economic History, Vol. 69, No. 2 (June 2009).
“Making Property Productive: Reorganizing Rights to Real and Equitable Estates in Britain, 1660 to 1830.” (with Dan Bogart). European Review of Economic History (2009), 13: 3-30 (Lead Article)
“Quarterly Data on the Categories and Causes of Bank Distress during the Great Depression,” Research in Economic History, Volume 25, pp. 37-115, (January 2008)
“The Collapse of the United States Banking System during the Great Depression, 1929 to 1933, New Archival Evidence,” Australasian Accounting, Business, and Finance Journal. Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 39-50. (January 2008)
“Categories and Causes of Bank Distress during the Great Depression, 1929—1933: The Illiquidity-Insolvency Debate Revisited,” Explorations in Economic History, Volume 44, Issue 4, pp. 586-607 (October 2007)
“Deposit Insurance and Moral Hazard: Capital, Risk, Malfeasance, and Mismanagement. A Comment on ‘Deposit Insurance and Moral Hazard: Evidence from Texas Banking During the 1920s.’” Economic Journal Watch, Volume 4, Number 3, pp. 296-302, (September 2007)
“The Check is in the Mail: Correspondent Clearing and the Banking Panics of the Great Depression,” Journal of Economic History, Vol. 67, No. 3, p. 643 (September 2007)
“Deposit Insurance Altered the Composition of Bank Suspensions During the 1920s: Evidence from the Archives of the Board of Governors,” (with Ching-Yi Chung), Contributions to Economic Analysis & Policy: Vol. 5: No. 1, Article 34, pp. 1-42, (2006)
“The Records of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in the National Archives of the United States,” Financial History Review, Volume 13, Issue 01, (April 2006), pp 123-134
“Origins of Anti-Immigrant Sentiments in the United States: Evidence from the Heartland in the Age of Mass Migration,” Topics in Economic Analysis and Policy, Volume 5, Number 1, (June 2005), pp. 1-46
"The Prudent Village: Risk Pooling Institutions in Medieval English Agriculture,” Journal of Economic History, Volume 65, Number 2, (June 2005), pp. 386–413.
“Christianity and Craft Guilds in Late Medieval England: A Rational Choice Analysis” Rationality and Society, Volume 17, (May 2005), pp. 139-189 (Lead article)
“Guilds, Laws, and Markets for Manufactured Merchandise in Late-Medieval England,” Explorations in Economic History, Volume 41, (January 2004) pp. 1–25 (Lead article).
“What Protected Peasants Best? Markets, Risk, Efficiency, and Medieval English Agriculture,” Research in Economic History, Volume 21, (2003), pp. 299–356.
“A Tale of Two Theories: Monopolies and Craft Guilds in Medieval England and Modern Imagination,” Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Volume 23, Number 2, (June 2001), pp. 217–242.
Other Experience
Historian of the Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond 2012—to p
Last updated
10/22/2014