|
A History of the Federal Reserve, Volume 1: 1913-1951
|
| List Price: | $28.00 |
| Price: | $25.20 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com
36 new or used available from $16.10
Average customer review:
Product Description
To understand why the Federal Reserve acted as it did at key points in its history, Meltzer draws on meeting minutes, correspondence, and other internal documents (many made public only during the 1970s) to trace the reasoning behind its policy decisions. He explains, for instance, why the Federal Reserve remained passive throughout most of the economic decline that led to the Great Depression, and how the Board's actions helped to produce the deep recession of 1937 and 1938. He also highlights the impact on the institution of individuals such as Benjamin Strong, governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the 1920s, who played a key role in the adoption of a more active monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. Meltzer also examines the influence the Federal Reserve has had on international affairs, from attempts to build a new international financial system in the 1920s to the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 that established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the failure of the London Economic Conference of 1933.
Written by one of the world's leading economists, this magisterial biography of the Federal Reserve and the people who helped shape it will interest economists, central bankers, historians, political scientists, policymakers, and anyone seeking a deep understanding of the institution that controls America's purse strings.
"It was 'an unprecedented orgy of extravagance, a mania for speculation, overextended business in nearly all lines and in every section of the country.' An Alan Greenspan rumination about the irrational exuberance of the late 1990s? Try the 1920 annual report of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve. . . . To understand why the Fed acted as it did—at these critical moments and many others—would require years of study, poring over letters, the minutes of meetings and internal Fed documents. Such a task would naturally deter most scholars of economic history but not, thank goodness, Allan Meltzer."—Wall Street Journal
"A seminal work that anyone interested in the inner workings of the U. S. central bank should read. A work that scholars will mine for years to come."—John M. Berry, Washington Post
"An exceptionally clear story about why, as the ideas that actually informed policy evolved, things sometimes went well and sometimes went badly. . . . One can only hope that we do not have to wait too long for the second installment."—David Laidler, Journal of Economic Literature
"A thorough narrative history of a high order. Meltzer's analysis is persuasive and acute. His work will stand for a generation as the benchmark history of the world's most powerful economic institution. It is an impressive, even awe-inspiring achievement."—Sir Howard Davies, Times Higher Education Supplement
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #124868 in Books
- Published on: 2004-06
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 808 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Meltzer (political economy and public policy, Carnegie Mellon Univ.) provides a definitive history of the U.S. Federal Reserve from its founding in 1913 to its establishment as a separate, independent entity in 1951. Using meeting minutes, correspondence, and internal Federal Reserve documents, he traces the reasons behind Federal Reserves policy decisions, highlights the impact that individuals and events had on the Fed, and examines the Fed's influence on international affairs. Starting with the works of Henry Thornton, Walter Bagehot, and Irving Fisher, he discusses the European origins of the model for the Fed; its transition from a passive to an active role in setting monetary policy; the supportive role it assumed during World Wars I and II; the impact of the 1927-29 stock market boom, the Great Depression, and the recessions of 1920-21, 1937-38, and 1947-48; and the key events that led to the Fed's independence in 1951. Also useful is the description of the key roles that Woodrow Wilson, Carter Glass, Benjamin Strong, Marriner S. Eccles, and Allan Sproul played in the development of the system. This well-written and thoroughgoing account is recommended for academic, business, and public libraries.
Norm Hutcherson, California State Univ. Lib., Bakersfield
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Allan Meltzer... has delved deeply into the history of the Federal Reserve System, with a result that will add substantially to the discourse on the institution's role and development. He has reviewed the records of policy discussion at an extraordinary level of detail, and his analysis illuminates the contributions of the many fascinating individuals who shaped the Federal Reserve System we know today." - From the Foreword by Alan Greenspan
From the Inside Flap
To understand why the Federal Reserve acted as it did at key points in its history, Meltzer draws on meeting minutes, correspondence, and other internal documents (many made public only during the 1970s) to trace the reasoning behind its policy decisions. He explains, for instance, why the Federal Reserve remained passive throughout most of the economic decline that led to the Great Depression, and how the Board's actions helped to produce the deep recession of 1937 and 1938. He also highlights the impact on the institution of individuals such as Benjamin Strong, governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the 1920s, who played a key role in the adoption of a more active monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. Meltzer also examines the influence the Federal Reserve has had on international affairs, from attempts to build a new international financial system in the 1920s to the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 that established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the failure of the London Economic Conference of 1933.
Written by one of the world's leading economists, this magisterial biography of the Federal Reserve and the people who helped shape it will interest economists, central bankers, historians, political scientists, policymakers, and anyone seeking a deep understanding of the institution that controls America's purse strings.
Customer Reviews
Not for the layman
This much heralded account of the Federal Reserve is justly lauded in academic circles because Meltzer brings forth many Fed documents which have long been buried away and unavailable to scholars. He is able to pursue step-by-step Fed actions and relate what happened in all those many meetings behind closed doors. Through the mass of information he has uncovered and his own in-depth knowledge of monetary policy and the Fed, he is able to bring new facts to light and correct previous interpretations that are more often than not those of Friedman and Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States.
The weaknesses of Meltzer's book stem from his massive archive of information and the strength of his predecessors. The sheer volume of information he is trying to convey prompts the narrative to drift and the reader sometimes loses the point. And, as a good academic historian, he is engaged in a dialogue with other historians of the Fed and monetary policy that can push the layman to the sidelines. Meltzer's history assumes the reader has a rather advanced knowledge of economics and finance such as an understanding of the real bills doctrine and the operation of an international gold standard. Also, the charts and tables are often not very helpful in understanding the text or at least could have been presented in a better manner.
Overall, Meltzer does not produce any stunning revelations but a great many correctives to previous accounts and much added detail. The novice to the history of US monetary policy would do better to read Richard Timberlake's book (though taken with a grain of salt because of its conservative leanings) or the classic work by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz.
