Employing a novel daily dataset for 19 advanced-economy currencies over the years 1963–2025, we find that, contrary to the prevailing view, deviations from the covered interest parity (CIP) condition were both large and frequent over the long-run. The 2000–06 period immediately preceding the Global Financial Crisis when CIP held unusually closely is therefore the exception rather than the period that followed.

New data covering 23 countries reveal that banking crises of the Great Depression coincided with a sharp international increase in deposits at savings institutions and life insurance. These findings provide new explanations of the fall in credit and aggregate demand in the 1930s.

By drawing on central banks’ archives and statistical reports for thirteen major economies, I build the first dataset on total state loans to firms and households (i.e. public credit). The dataset is quarterly and covers the 1950-2020 period. I reveal that public credit is a key component of the financial cycle.

This article relies on a new dataset of end-of-month exchange rates quoted in 17 national financial centers (i.e., countries) over the 1900-1999 period. By measuring deviations from the Law of One Price in international currency markets, I put forward a new long-run measure of international financial integration at the currency level.