We examine the role that social and economic networks played in the selective lender-of-last-resort policy of the French central bank during the banking panics of 1930-31.

Based on the original daily data of central bank lending to commercial banks, we show that connected banks received much more credit than unconnected banks during the crisis, compared to pre-crisis levels. We study how this result depends on the behaviour of a private central bank with respect to the profit of its shareholders and the risk of its balance sheet.