`A provision for themselves and their families?' Women depositors of the Savings Bank of New South Wales, 1846-1871.
It has been suggested that the middle decades of the nineteenth century in New South Wales represented a period of significant change in the ways in which people attempted to secure themselves and their families against risk.(1) Those changes were facilitated by the establishment of institutions through which people...

Pimping poverty, then and now.
On May 20, we saw the creation of a new avatar of welfare fraud, a black woman in New York City accused of receiving $450,000 in public aid illegally (through a number of fictitious identities and nonexistent children) over a seven-year period. The story of the alleged culprit--complete with...

Land of black gold.
While the government of the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan plans to start distributing privatisation vouchers in April, the promise of oil has led many to talk of a new Dubai. Despite resembling a spy from a B-grade movie the finance ministry official displayed all the reforming zeal of...

As time goes by.
When we were young, seconds, minutes, and hours seemed suspended as we awaited things to come. The time between birthdays seemed eternal, and the clock's second hand seemed to stand still as it (hardly) progressed around the dial toward the moment school would end. As I wander through the...

On becoming a director: a talk with Richard Parsons.
Richard D. Parsons was 37 years old when he joined his first public corporation board. That was 10 years ago, when he was managing partner of the New York law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler. He subsequently became chairman and chief executive officer of Dime Bancorp Inc.,...

The Democrats Bow to the Megabanks.
Never underestimate the ability of Congress to repeat its mistakes. A decade ago, after it gambled and lost on deregulation, Congress was forced to launch a $500 billion taxpayer-financed bailout of the savings and loan industry. Congress has just rolled the deregulation dice again. This time, the outcome may...

Research note: searching for working-class Philadelphia in the records of the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society.
The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (PSFS) was founded in 1816 as the nation's first savings bank. Its stated purpose, as articulated in its 1817 Articles of Association, was to provide "mechanics and tradesmen" with a safe repository for whatever small savings they could amass. The original Board of Managers, which...

The DOE's dirty laundry: is a technologically unqualified DOE sabotaging its own nuclear cleanup efforts?
Remember the savings and loan bailout? You know, the banking fiasco with the $90 billion price tag? Well, that'll look like chump change next to the government's next big repair job: reversing 50 years of environmental ruin in the nation's nuclear weapons complex. Cleaning it up is expected to...

A checklist for bank directors.
Item from the New York Times earlier this year: "David Thomas, the chairman and founder of Wendy's fast-food chain, declined an offer to be a director of a savings bank in Ohio after his lawyer advised him of potential regulatory risks." This type of action is becoming very common...

Don Rowe of The Wall Street Digest.
Don Rowe of The Wall Street Digest Don Rowe, editor and publisher of The Wall Street Digest, one of the largest and most respected financial newsletters in the country, is an oddity in his profession. He's an optimist. You might wonder where Rowe, who recently moved...