The Conversation a study co-authored by Robert Pedace, professor of economics, on marijuana legalization’s potential effect on banking activity. The research “isn鈥檛 to suggest that banks illicitly benefited from the burgeoning pot business by taking deposits from cannabis companies or giving them loans,” Pedace and his co-authors write, adding that those practices remain illegal under federal law. “Rather, we believe our findings suggest legalization may have spurred more economic activity generally.”