History and Geography of the US Banking System

Abstract

The reviewer discusses the monograph “The Greater Wall Street: New York City and Other Banking Metropolises of the USA in the Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries” (Chelyabinsk: SUSHPU Publ., 2019. 545 pp.) by L.V. Nikitin, focused on the evolution of the US banking system and changes in its territorial structure. The reviewer notes that the author convincingly reveals the reasons why some financial centers broke out to the forefront, while others, on the contrary, were in a certain decline. The reviewer also draws attention to the fact that the author analyzes in detail both changes in institutional norms and the dynamics of the entire banking system. The reviewer praises the author for the fact that he used voluminous and varied statistical data and applied rather complex cliometric methods of analysis, which made it possible to study the growing stratification and inequality between the banking capitals of the United States. The book under review also contains enlarged appendices in the form of various graphs and tables that illustrate many of the features of the US banking geography in the long-time historical dynamics. According to the reviewer, the book by L.V. Nikitin is located at the junction of several relevant areas of historical and economic research, such as economic history, economic geography, historical urban studies, institutional history, and institutional economics, demonstrating a successful example of combining the merits of these areas when conducting interdisciplinary study.