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Regional rates of return in the United States differed widely following the Civil War and some differences persisted until well after World War II. Our understanding of the evolution of short-term interest rates is based primarily on portfolio rates of return estimated from bank accounting data. This paper uses new national bank loan rate series for 1887–1975 to present a revised view of the evolution of regional short-term interest rates. Two findings are of particular interest. The organization of the Federal Reserve System was accompanied by significant convergence in regional bank loan rates. Rates in the postbellum South were lower than previously thought.

Research in Economic History volume 24 includes seven papers, four of which were submitted and evaluated through our regular channels. An additional three were solicited from among those presented at the conference Toward a Global History of Prices and Wages, held in Utrecht in August 2004. Owing to the emphasis in these papers on data and the relevance of their findings for our understanding of long-run economic growth and development in different parts of the world, we encouraged a number of authors from this conference to submit their work. Three of these contributions have already been published in REH 23, and an additional three are included here. Associate editor Greg Clark took responsibility for soliciting, refereeing, selecting, and editing the submissions.