RICHMOND — When the shorting of the U.S. housing market contributed to a recession in the late 2000s, Americans received a harsh reminder of how many big, private banks worry more about maximizing profits than protecting their cash.
But one very different financial institution weathered the Great Recession better than others — just as it had the Great Depression almost a century earlier.
The Bank of North Dakota, the only public bank of its kind in the country, was founded in 1919 to better protect the state’s farmers and ranchers from outside price hikes and market manipulation. By managing financial resources in-house by the state government, the bank was able