Using a novel dataset of over 3,500 public and private firms, we construct the network of firm connections through executives and directors on the eve of the 1929 financial market crash. We find that more connected firms have 17% higher 10-year survival rates on average. Consistent with a role...

We use differences in firm outcomes around the 1929 financial market crash to test whether network connections to other firms through executive and directors increase value. We find that firms that had more connections on the eve of the crisis in 1928 have higher 10-year survival rates during...