Title
Running for the Exit: Community Cohesion and Bank Panics
Abstract
Bank panics attract scholarly interest because they reflect distrust of each bank that experiences a run as a result of diffusion of information; rumors about such bank runs trigger additional runs elsewhere. However, the contagion of bank runs is highly selective for reasons that are unrelated to the financial strength of the individual banks. This presents a puzzle that extant theories on institutions and reputations cannot fully explain. To solve this puzzle, we turn to the characteristics of the community in which the banks operate. We develop theory on how communities with diverse affiliation structures and economic inequality have weaker community cohesion and communication, making such communities less likely to experience widespread distrust and hence bank runs. We test hypotheses on the effects of community ethnic diversity, national origin diversity, religious diversity, and wealth inequality using data from the great bank panic of 1893, and we find strong community effects on bank runs. These findings suggest that the contagion of distrust in organizations following adverse events is channeled by community differences as well as organizational differences.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1287/orsc.2013.0825
Organization Science
Keywords
Field
DocType
bank panic,demographic heterogeneity,distrust,information diffusion,community diversity,bank run,diffusion
Community cohesion,Economic inequality,Public relations,Cultural diversity,Inequality,Extant taxon,Distrust,Bank run,Business
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
25
1
1047-7039
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
1
0.40
1
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Henrich R. Greve19412.06
Ji-Yub (Jay) Kim210.40