History of Crises under the National Banking System

"Sprague, the author of the History of Crises , was the first chaired Professor at Harvard Business School and his book is a classic narrative of the national banking era. So, during the Civil War the government passes an act which charters national banks: 1865-1914 is the national banking era. All the panics in this era are to do with checking accounts. Then, in 1914, the Fed comes into existence and the next panic, of course, is the Great Depression. So, we have made some progress. The current crisis isn’t as bad as the Great Depression."