Recommendations from our site
“A Monetary History provides the story of the struggle over successive monetary regimes to get the monetary system right. It doesn’t get to the last part of the story, but it gets a lot of the story, at least from a US perspective.” Read more...
“When we look at the monetary history of the United States and ask whether, during those times, the central bank looked anything like it does now, the answer is ‘no’. It’s a book that addresses why that was” Read more...
“It’s clear that a lot of the policies that were put into place were negative, but as to sorting out how important they were, that’s much more challenging.” Read more...
The best books on The Lessons of the Great Depression
Robert Barro, Economist
“If you buy only one economics book, it should be this. The book is important for our understanding of the Great Depression, but its impact goes far beyond that. Friedman and Schwartz show us that monetary events and monetary policy have affected real output throughout American history.” Read more...
The best books on Learning from the Great Depression
Christina Romer, Economist
“There was an accepted understanding of why it was that the economy went into this searing experience for a generation of Americans and what it was that got the US out again.” Read more...
David Frum recommends five Pioneering Conservative Books
David Frum, Political Commentator
As economic activity looks set to slow dramatically in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, attention has turned to what governments and central banks can do to mitigate the worst effects of the downturn. This is a seminal work on the causes of the Great Depression in the United States. Schwartz and Friedman blamed the intensity of the depression on the Federal Reserve. Ben Bernanke credited this work with ensuring the Fed didn’t make the same mistakes in 2008/09.
Our most recommended books
-
A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960
by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz -
The Passions and the Interests
by Albert Hirschman -
The Past and Future of America’s Economy
by Robert D Atkinson -
Free Trade Under Fire
by Douglas A Irwin -
The Rhetoric of Reaction
by Albert Otto Hirschman -
Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving Port 1727-1892
by Robin Law
