An Empirical History of the United States Postal Savings System / Steven Sprick Schuster, Matthew Jaremski, Elisabeth Ruth Perlman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sprick Schuster, Steven.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Jaremski, Matthew.

Perlman, Elisabeth Ruth.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w25812.

NBER working paper series no. w25812

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2019.

Summary:

Seeking to reach the unbanked, the United States Postal Savings System provided a federally insured savings alternative to traditional banks. Using novel datasets on postal deposits, demographic characteristics, and banks, we study how and by whom the System was used. We find the program was initially used by non-farming immigrant populations for short-term saving, then as a safe haven during the Great Depression, and finally as long-term investment for the wealthy during the 1940s. However, even during the earliest period, Postal Savings was only a partial substitute for traditional banks, as locations with banks often still heavily used postal savings.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2019.