Desmarais Global Finance Research Centre (DGFRC) Seminar: Amiyatosh Purnanandam
Amiyatosh Purnanandam
University of Texas, Austin
Shadows on Main Street:
Local Financial Architecture and Asset Reallocation
Date: Friday, September 12, 2025
Time: 10:30-11:45 am
Location: Bronfman Bldg. (1001 Sherbrooke St. West), Room 245
All are cordially invited to attend.
Abstract:
We construct a novel and comprehensive database of financial architecture, i.e., the nature and composition of regulated and shadow banks, at the county level over 1920-2000 from Yellow Pages published in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Shadow banks have large footprints representing about one-third of the entire financial institutions on the main streets; the county-level variation in their presence dwarfs state-level differences; and they act as a complement, on average, to the regulated banks in the area. They facilitate efficient reallocation of local assets, namely farmlands in the county, via consolidation when farming becomes more profitable. Reallocation results in a cost-efficient use of capital equipment and higher land valuation. Our results show that analyzing the full spectrum of financial architecture at a granular level can be a fruitful avenue for future research in banking and finance.
