Banks are protection firms because trust collapse dooms them

Evidence

So are bankers (themselves a form of protection firm, specializing in protecting money and small valuables), for if people stop believing that a bank is reliable, that bank collapses as a result (Kindleberger 1978). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 113

Categorization

• XREF: The claim that banks are protection firms maps directly onto the reader’s central thesis: formal banking is legitimate protection substituting for the mafia’s private enforcement. — connects to: Severe financial crises trigger a loss of trust in markets
• SHARE: Good for a friend in banking/finance — banks as protection firms with Kindelberger citation.