Rajan, Raghuram G.; Ramcharan, Rodney,2011, "Land and Credit: A Study of the Political Economy of banking in theUnited States in the Early 20th Century", The Journal of Finance,Vol.66(6), Dec., PP1895-1931.

ABSTRACTWe find that, in the early 20th century, counties in the United States where theagricultural elite had disproportionately large land holdings had significantly fewerbanks per capita, even correcting for state-level effects. Moreover, credit appears tohave been costlier, and access to it more limited, in these counties. The evidencesuggests that elites may restrict financial development in order to limit access tofinance, and they may be able to do so even in countries with well-developed politicalinstitutions.