The Rise of the Megabanks
Stephanie Forshee is the finance editor at LinkedIn News , and her byline has appeared in The Wall Street Journal , Morning Brew , Forbes . com , The Financial Times , Newsday , Backstage and other media outlets . She is also the creator of Hidden Gems for Kids , a children ’ s book series about forgotten women in business . Her first children ’ s book , Hidden Gems : Margaret Getchell LaForge , was published by Archway Publishing in July 2023 .
Notes
1 . The original Macy ’ s building in New York was on West 14th Street near the corner of 6th Avenue . On the West 14th Street side of the building , remnants of the R . H . Macy ’ s logo can still be seen , although it ’ s barely visible . In 2011 , the site was proposed as a historic landmark . Visitors seeking a peek of the original Macy ’ s store will have better luck going to the other side of the street , where the store once was . On West 13th Street , onlookers will find stunning red stars on an old brick building that is now The New School
University ’ s Arnold Hall . The red stars were the brainchild of Margaret Getchell LaForge .
2 . Margaret Getchell did assume her husband ’ s last name , and was known for the rest of her life as Margaret Getchell LaForge . However , for the sake of consistency , this article will continue to refer to her as her “ Getchell ” and her husband as “ LaForge .”
3 . Anna Sutherland Bissell is believed to be America ’ s first female CEO of a major organization . After working alongside her husband , Melville , at their carpet sweeper company for 13 years in the top marketing position , Anna took over leadership of the company when Melville passed away in 1889 .
4 . Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx , New York , is the burial ground for many prominent men and women , including pioneering investigative journalist Nellie Bly , suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton , haircare entrepreneur and first Black millionaire Madam C . J . Walker , Joseph Pulitzer and Alva Vanderbilt .
Sources Forbes , Malcolm . Women Who Made a Difference . New York . 1990 .
Forshee , Stephanie . Hidden Gems : Margaret Getchell LaForge . New York : Archway Publishing . 2023 . Getchell , Margaret . “ Diary , 1870 – 1880 .” “ Gifted ‘ Ex-School-Marm ’ Spread Fame of Macy ’ s .” Evening Journal . February 1933 .
Grippo , Robert . Macy ’ s : The Store , the Star , the Story . Garden City Park , NJ : Square One Publishers . 2009 .
Holmes , Amelia W . “ How a Nantucket Woman Made Macy ’ s .” Accessed April 12 , 2023 . nha . org / research / nantucket-history / history-topics / how-a-nantucket-woman -made-macys /
Hower , Ralph . History of Macy ’ s New York 1853 – 1919 . Cambridge , MA : Harvard University Press . 1944 .
Hungerford , Edward . The Romance of a Great Store . New York : Robert M . McBride & Company . 1922 .
Johnson , Curtiss . America ’ s First Lady Boss : A Wisp of a Girl , Macy ’ s and Romance . Norwalk , CT : Silvermine Publishers . 1965 .
LaForge , Abiel . “ Letters . 1861 – 1878 .”
The Rise of the Megabanks
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large , regional banks , when larger banks required government support . Historical patterns of government intervention , like the FDIC ’ s “ Essentiality Doctrine ,” have facilitated bailouts to maintain banking services in communities . This protection can lead to risky behavior by large banks , increasing their overall risk profiles and inhibiting competitive pressure .
Understanding these patterns and tradeoffs is crucial for enacting suitable measures that strike a balance between a stable banking sector with mitigating the risks of excessive concentration . The overarching objective of regulation should be to prevent situations like those that sunk SVB and led to the further expansion of JP Morgan this past spring .
So , is Mr . Dimon right ? Historical research may hold ( at least part of ) the answer .
Carolin Fohin is a professor of economics at Emory University and research fellow at CEPR London and SAFE Frankfurt . She is an expert in financial and economic history and the author of Mobilizing Money : How the World ’ s Richest Nations Financed Industrial Growth and Finance Capitalism and Germany ’ s Rise to Industrial Power .
Matthew Jaremski is the F . Ross Peterson Endowed Professor of Economic History at Utah State and a Research Associate of the NBER . His research focuses on understanding the financial dynamics that underlie or follow macroeconomic events .
Derrick Tran , an economics graduate from Emory University , is a scholar of financial economics .
Sources
Bordo , Michael D ., Angela Redish and Hugh Rockoff . “ Why Didn ’ t Canada Have a Banking Crisis in 2008 ( or in 1930 , or 1907 , or …)?” Economic History Review 68 , 218 – 243 . 2015 .
Calomiris , Charles W . and Matthew Jaremski . “ Florida ( Un ) Chained .” Journal of Financial Intermediation , 101043 . 2023 .
Fohlin , Caroline and Matthew Jaremski . “ US Banking Concentration , 1820 – 2019 .” Economics Letters , 190 , 109104 . 2020 .
Jaremski , Matthew and David C . Wheelock . “ Banking on the Boom , Tripped by the Bust : Banks and the World War I Agricultural Price Shock .” Journal of Money , Credit and Banking 52 , 1719 – 1754 . 2020 .
Nurisso , George C . and Edward Simpson Prescott . “ Origins of Too-Big-to-Fail Policy in the United States .” Financial History Review 27 , 1 – 15 . 2020 .
38 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Summer 2023 | www . MoAF . org