Dr. Knodell's research and teaching interests are in the fields of money and banking, macroeconomics, and economics history. Her research applies the tools of economic history, institutional analysis, and monetary economics to understanding the evolution and performance of monetary institutions over time.
Her current research centers on the monetary history of the U.S. between the demise of the Second Bank of the United States in the mid-1830s and the creation of the national banking system in the mid-1860s. One new paper uses a network approach to compare the payments services provided by chartered and private (unincorporated) banks. A second paper seeks to explain the reasons for the resurgence of metallic currency (and decline of paper money) between 1840 and 1860, contrary to expected patterns of monetary development.