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“A treasure trove for financial and public policy geeks . . . will also help lay readers go beyond the hit musical in understanding Hamilton’s lasting significance.” —Publishers Weekly While serving as the first treasury secretary from 1789 to 1795, Alexander Hamilton engineered a financial revolution. He established the treasury debt market, the dollar, and a central bank, while strategically prompting private entrepreneurs to establish securities markets and stock exchanges and encouraging state governments to charter a number of commercial banks and other business corporations. Yet despite a recent surge of interest in Hamilton, US financial modernization has not been fully recognized as one of his greatest achievements. This book traces the development of Hamilton’s financial thinking, policies, and actions through a selection of his writings. Financial historians and Hamilton experts Richard Sylla and David J. Cowen provide commentary that demonstrates the impact Hamilton had on the modern economic system, guiding readers through Hamilton’s distinguished career. It showcases Hamilton’s thoughts on the nation’s founding, the need for a strong central government, problems such as a depreciating paper currency and weak public credit, and the architecture of the financial system. His great state papers on public credit, the national bank, the mint, and manufactures instructed reform of the nation’s finances and jumpstarted economic growth. Hamilton practiced what he preached: he played a key role in the founding of three banks and a manufacturing corporation—and his deft political maneuvering and economic savvy saved the fledgling republic’s economy during the country’s first full-blown financial crisis in 1792. “A fascinating examination of Hamiltonian economics.” —The Washington Times
Modern monetary economics has been significantly influenced by the knowledge and insight brought to the field by the work of Anna J. Schwartz, an economist whose career has spanned almost half a century. Her contributions evidence a broad expertise in international history and policy, and an ability to apply the results of her careful historical research to current issues and debates. Money in Historical Perspective is a collection of sixteen of her papers selected by Michael D. Bordo and Milton Friedman. Grouped into three sections, the essays constitute a number of Dr. Schwartz's most cited articles on the subject of monetary economics, many of which are no longer readily accessible. In the papers in part I, dating from 1947 to the present, Dr. Schwartz examines money and banking in the United States and the United Kingdom from a historical perspective. Her investigation of the historical evidence linking economic instability to erratic monetary behavior—this behavior itself a product of discretionary monetary policy—has led her to argue for the importance of stable money, and her writings on these issues over the last two decades form part II. The volume concludes with four recent articles on international monetary arrangements, including Dr. Schwartz's well-known work on the gold standard. This volume of classic essays by Anna Schwartz will be a useful addition to the libraries of scholars and students for its exemplary historical research and commentary on monetary systems.
This book focuses on the impact of the introduction of the First Bank of the United States (1791-1811) on the nascent financial system. The Bank dominated the financial scene of early America. Its prestigious list of clients included the United States Treasury, which deposited the bulk of the nation's money in the vaults of the Bank in return for various banking services. The stage is set by describing the background events of 1791: Treasury Secretary Hamilton's Bank Report and Congress's reaction, the script bubble for Bank shares, and the choosing of board members and their decision to create nationwide branches. The Bank's headquarters commenced business on December 12, 1791. New evidence shows how the Bank strongly affected the economy within two months of opening its doors, initially by flooding the market with its paper and then by sharply reversing course and curtailing liquidity. While the added liquidity helped initially to push a bull market in securities higher, the subsequent draincaused the Panic of 1792 by forcing speculators to sell their stocks. The role of early central banking is discussed in light of the Panic, the Bank, and the U.S. Treasury Department. Evidence is presented that points to a new interpretation: the Treasury Secretaries played the role of the Central Banker and the Bank acted the part of the Central Bank. There was continuity in the mindsets, dialogues and actions of the Treasury Secretaries, leading to a conclusion that early U.S. financial policy makers developed an operational central banking thought and procedures during the era of the First Bank. The financial implications of Bank policy on several historical events during the 1790's are examined. By focusing on specific times when the board directed a change in loan policy, new conclusions are drawn with respect to the Bank's impact on the credit markets and its central banking role. This book adds clarity to the ongoing historical debates about the behavior of the early U.S. economy and its creditmarkets by examining the institution which was at the center of the American business world at that time.