I am an economic and financial historian. My current research looks at bank risk-taking, banking crises, crisis resolution and moral hazard, all from a historical perspective. Financial regulation and corporate governance feature prominently in this work. I am an expert in the economic history of the Great Depression and its regulatory aftermath.
Banking crises impact and are impacted by public debt and my research also focuses on that area. It explores the history of taxation, budgets and tax reform, including from a distributive perspective. Distribution in turn links back to banking and corporate governance issues.
In my work I handle large historical datasets as well as collections of qualitative archival material.
I convene a Masters course on Monetary and Financial History (EH430) which goes back to 1600 with a special focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. I also teach in the new MSc in Financial History.
Prior to joining the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Competitive Advantage in a Global Economy (CAGE) at the University of Warwick. In 2013 I won the Economic History Society's New Researcher Prize and I was a finalist for the Economic History Association Nevins PhD Dissertation Prize in 2015. I was also nominated several times for the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Teaching Excellence Awards.
I am a CEPR Research Affiliate.
Research interests
- Financial, banking and monetary crises
- Banking crisis resolution, bailouts, "bail-ins," shareholder liability
- Mortgage and household debt
- History of public finance: taxation, distribution and welfare.
- Public debt, austerity, stimulus and the economy from a historical perspective
Teaching (2022-23)
EH430 -- Monetary and Financial History
EH439 -- The History of Banking Systems
EH306 -- Monetary and Financial History since 1750
Publications
Collet, Stéphanie and Natacha Postel-Vinay (forthcoming). "Hot Money Inflows and Bank Risk-Taking: Germany from the 1920s to the Great Depression," Economic History Review. See also .
Cloyne, James, Dimsdale, Nicholas and Natacha Postel-Vinay (conditionally accepted). "," Review of Economic Studies. See Narrative companion background paper .
Vox column .
Postel-Vinay, Natacha. (2022). "Was the US Great Depression a Credit Boom Gone Wrong?" in Schularick, Moritz (ed.). (Chicago University Press).
Postel-Vinay, Natacha. (2017). "Debt Dilution in 1920s America: Lighting the Fuse of a Mortgage Crisis," Economic History Review, 70 (2), pp. 559-585
Postel-Vinay, Natacha. (2016). "What Caused Chicago Bank Failures in the Great Depression? A Look at the 1920s," Journal of Economic History 76 (2), pp. 478-519
Postel-Vinay, Natacha. (2016) "Sitting Ducks: Banks, Mortgage Lending, and the Great Depression in the Chicago Area, 1923-1933." Dissertation summary, Journal of Economic History, 76(2), pp. 595-626.
Current projects
"The City of Glasgow Bank failure and the case for Two-Tier Liability" with Charles Goodhart (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳)
"Making bankers pay: from blanket guarantees to market discipline in Sweden, 1920-1939" with Erik Bengtsson (University of Lund) and Anders Ogren (University of Lund).
Public engagement
Guardian Op-Ed, “.”
Various interviews for Bloomberg, BBC Radio 5, BBC Future, the Telegraph, CNBC, Business Insider.
HM Treasury speaker, “The US Way out of the Depression.”
Interview for the documentary "Can't Pay, Won't Pay: A Popular History of Taxes," produced by the European TV Channel Arte. You can view and here. The documentary was premiered in English at the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ on 24 October 2022.
Toynbee Prize Foundation interview, “War, Plague and Inflation: Is this time different?
Bristol Festival of Economics panelist.