Citibank, Credit Cards, and the Local Politics of National Consumer Finance, 1968–1991
研究了二战后美国各州利率上限等法规如何限制银行信用卡盈利，以及花旗银行1981年将信用卡业务迁至南达科他州苏福尔斯的关键事件，揭示了企业利用地方法律差异推动全国消费金融发展的过程。
Within the postwar financial regulatory system, state-level regulations—particularly interest rate limits—constrained the profitability of bank credit card plans. But differences in law among the states allowed motivated institutions to circumvent local laws using these mobile financial instruments. Eventually, banks themselves became mobile, placing irresistible pressure on states to eliminate local restrictions on consumer finance. The critical moment came when Citibank relocated its credit card business to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1981. By examining this move in its longer context, this essay provides a new perspective on the rise of consumer finance in the late twentieth century, one that emphasizes strategic manipulation of local law by firms pursuing a national customer base.