Sean H Vanatta
Biographic Data
| ID | 5605619 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sean H Vanatta |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sean H |
| FAMILY NAME | Vanatta |
| SIGNATURE | VANATTA S H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Glasgow |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1340-4720 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden
Private Finance, Public Power
Introduction to special issue on human capital in financial regulation and supervision
This special issue examines the global importance of human capital in financial regulation and supervision in the twentieth century. It does so through five national case studies, including China, Japan, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland, as well as an examination of the International Monetary Fund. Many of the essays use prosopographic methodology to document and analyze the educational, social, professional, and demographic backgrounds of regul…
Plastic Capitalism
How bankers created the modern consumer credit economy and destroyed financial stability in the process “As much as it enriches our scholarship, Vanatta’s history should also inspire our policymaking.”—Carey Mott, Los Angeles Review of Books American households are awash in expensive credit card debt. But where did all this debt come from? In this history of the rise of postwar American finance, Sean H. Vanatta shows how bankers created our credi…
Revolving door governance
From the founding of the National Banking System in 1863 until the New Deal in the early 1930s, 'revolving door governance' was foundational to financial oversight in the United States.The institutional design of bank supervision encouraged officials to hire early-career bankers who would bring professional knowledge and social capital into government service; who would develop further knowledge, skills, and professional contacts in government se…
The financialization of US public pension funds, 1945–1974
This article examines the transformation of public employee pension investment in the United States, from investing public funds in public infrastructure before the 1950s, to investing public funds in private securities in the years after.Three factors drove this change.First, motivated financial professionals convinced states to adopt the "prudent man rule," a legal investment standard that emphasized professional management and maximum financia…
Surveillance archive
In a narrow sense, this essay is meant to encourage business historians to consider (and reconsider) the variety of public and private reports, which can provide insights into the operation of firms and industries. U.S. bank examiner reports tell us about how nineteenth century banks operated within a Republican political economy; European Union reports shine light on the differences and similarities between firms operating in various national ma…
The Logic and Legitimacy of Bank Supervision
The U.S. banking holiday of March 1933 was a pivotal event in twentieth-century political and economic history. After closing the nation's banks for nine days, the administration of newly inaugurated president Franklin D. Roosevelt restarted the banking system as the first step toward national recovery from the global Great Depression. In the conventional narrative, the holiday succeeded because Roosevelt used his political talents to restore pub…
Charge Account Banking
This study takes a step toward reconceptualizing the process of financialization, the reorientation of the US economy toward financial services that scholars view as a product of the 1970s economic shocks and subsequent regulatory liberalization. Instead, I argue that financialization was equally dependent on the gradual development of new financial technologies and business practices within the political and regulatory environment of the early p…
Citibank, Credit Cards, and the Local Politics of National Consumer Finance, 1968–1991
Within the postwar financial regulatory system, state-level regulations—particularly interest rate limits—constrained the profitability of bank credit card plans. But differences in law among the states allowed motivated institutions to circumvent local laws using these mobile financial instruments. Eventually, banks themselves became mobile, placing irresistible pressure on states to eliminate local restrictions on consumer finance. The critical…
Revolving door governance
From the founding of the National Banking System in 1863 until the New Deal in the early 1930s, 'revolving door governance' was foundational to financial oversight in the United States.The institutional design of bank supervision encouraged officials to hire early-career bankers who would bring professional knowledge and social capital into government service; who would develop further knowledge, skills, and professional contacts in government se…
Citibank, Credit Cards, and the Local Politics of National Consumer Finance, 1968–1991
Within the postwar financial regulatory system, state-level regulations—particularly interest rate limits—constrained the profitability of bank credit card plans. But differences in law among the states allowed motivated institutions to circumvent local laws using these mobile financial instruments. Eventually, banks themselves became mobile, placing irresistible pressure on states to eliminate local restrictions on consumer finance. The critical…
The Logic and Legitimacy of Bank Supervision
The U.S. banking holiday of March 1933 was a pivotal event in twentieth-century political and economic history. After closing the nation's banks for nine days, the administration of newly inaugurated president Franklin D. Roosevelt restarted the banking system as the first step toward national recovery from the global Great Depression. In the conventional narrative, the holiday succeeded because Roosevelt used his political talents to restore pub…
Charge Account Banking
This study takes a step toward reconceptualizing the process of financialization, the reorientation of the US economy toward financial services that scholars view as a product of the 1970s economic shocks and subsequent regulatory liberalization. Instead, I argue that financialization was equally dependent on the gradual development of new financial technologies and business practices within the political and regulatory environment of the early p…
The financialization of US public pension funds, 1945–1974
This article examines the transformation of public employee pension investment in the United States, from investing public funds in public infrastructure before the 1950s, to investing public funds in private securities in the years after.Three factors drove this change.First, motivated financial professionals convinced states to adopt the "prudent man rule," a legal investment standard that emphasized professional management and maximum financia…
Citibank, Credit Cards, and the Local Politics of National Consumer Finance, 1968–1991
Within the postwar financial regulatory system, state-level regulations—particularly interest rate limits—constrained the profitability of bank credit card plans. But differences in law among the states allowed motivated institutions to circumvent local laws using these mobile financial instruments. Eventually, banks themselves became mobile, placing irresistible pressure on states to eliminate local restrictions on consumer finance. The critical…
Charge Account Banking
This study takes a step toward reconceptualizing the process of financialization, the reorientation of the US economy toward financial services that scholars view as a product of the 1970s economic shocks and subsequent regulatory liberalization. Instead, I argue that financialization was equally dependent on the gradual development of new financial technologies and business practices within the political and regulatory environment of the early p…
The Logic and Legitimacy of Bank Supervision
The U.S. banking holiday of March 1933 was a pivotal event in twentieth-century political and economic history. After closing the nation's banks for nine days, the administration of newly inaugurated president Franklin D. Roosevelt restarted the banking system as the first step toward national recovery from the global Great Depression. In the conventional narrative, the holiday succeeded because Roosevelt used his political talents to restore pub…
Surveillance archive
In a narrow sense, this essay is meant to encourage business historians to consider (and reconsider) the variety of public and private reports, which can provide insights into the operation of firms and industries. U.S. bank examiner reports tell us about how nineteenth century banks operated within a Republican political economy; European Union reports shine light on the differences and similarities between firms operating in various national ma…
Plastic Capitalism
How bankers created the modern consumer credit economy and destroyed financial stability in the process “As much as it enriches our scholarship, Vanatta’s history should also inspire our policymaking.”—Carey Mott, Los Angeles Review of Books American households are awash in expensive credit card debt. But where did all this debt come from? In this history of the rise of postwar American finance, Sean H. Vanatta shows how bankers created our credi…
Revolving door governance
From the founding of the National Banking System in 1863 until the New Deal in the early 1930s, 'revolving door governance' was foundational to financial oversight in the United States.The institutional design of bank supervision encouraged officials to hire early-career bankers who would bring professional knowledge and social capital into government service; who would develop further knowledge, skills, and professional contacts in government se…
The financialization of US public pension funds, 1945–1974
This article examines the transformation of public employee pension investment in the United States, from investing public funds in public infrastructure before the 1950s, to investing public funds in private securities in the years after.Three factors drove this change.First, motivated financial professionals convinced states to adopt the "prudent man rule," a legal investment standard that emphasized professional management and maximum financia…
Private Finance, Public Power
Introduction to special issue on human capital in financial regulation and supervision
This special issue examines the global importance of human capital in financial regulation and supervision in the twentieth century. It does so through five national case studies, including China, Japan, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland, as well as an examination of the International Monetary Fund. Many of the essays use prosopographic methodology to document and analyze the educational, social, professional, and demographic backgrounds of regul…
The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden
Economics (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Finance (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Finance (4 works) · Banking stability, regulation, efficiency (3 works) · Government (linguistics (3 works)