Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of the Fed by Jack Rasmus

Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of the Fed by Jack Rasmus

In 1913the United States was one of the last major economies to establish a central bank. This book examines the history and evolution of central banking in the United States from the perspective of central banking functions such as aggregator of private lending to the federal government and the fiscal agent for the government.

When the Federal Reserve came into existence in 1913, the name of the institution deliberately did not include the words central bankAs Rasmus points out, since the time of Hamilton, there had been a tension between the need for a central bank and the centralization of economic and political power that such an entity would represent. Better then to set up a system of regional banks vested with the power to issue a single currency, regulate interest rates, and serve as the lender of last resort. The Fed’s structure departed from Hamilton’s notion of a hybrid bank that merged private and public interests. Early experiments, such as the First Bank of the United States, foundered in large part because of the subjugation of the public interest by private banks beholden to their shareholders. Rasmus deftly limns Hamilton’s vision for a central bank, and the description of the myriad financial crises and banking panics dotting the 19th and early 20th centuries highlights the need for a monetary authority independent of both political pressure and private interests. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

* CHOICE *
Over the past 12 years, Dr. Jack Rasmus is a prolific writer on the state of the global and U.S. economy, and critic of current and former fiscal and monetary policy. Dr. Rasmus extends his research, allowing us to see the current Federal Reserve from a historical-political-policy and economic context, and how the bank evolved over the years; however, it seems the bank continues to make the same mistakes as earlier banks: excessive money supply, lack of supervision, speculative lending, asset price bubbles, bank bailouts, and lower standards of living-social welfare. Seems there needs to be central bank reform. -- Lawrence A. Souza, St. Mary's College

Jack Rasmus is professor of economics at St. Mary's College.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781498582865
ISBN 10	1498582869
Title	Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of the Fed
Author	Jack Rasmus
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Lexington Books
Year published	2020-12-15
Number of pages	146
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.