Books by Elmus (Indiana University) Wicker

The first full-length study of five US banking panics of the Great Depression. Previous studies of the Depression have approached the banking panics from a macroeconomic viewpoint; Professor Wicker reconstructs a close historical narrative of each of the panics, investigating their origins, magnitude, and effects.

This was the first major study of post-Civil War banking panics in almost a century. The author re-evaluates the role of the New York Clearing House, concluding that structural defects of the National Banking Act were not the primary cause of the panics.