The years 1920-1970 saw revolutionary change in the character of the monetary system as a consequence of depression, war, and finally prosperity. The same years saw equally revolutionary change in the character of economic ideas as the rise of statistics, Keynesian economics, and then Walrasian economics transformed the style of economic explanation. The two lines of change reinforced one another, as monetary events posed new questions that required new conceptual approaches, and as monetary ideas suggested possible directions for monetary policy.
Against this background of change, Perry Mehrling tells a story of continuity around the crucial question of the role of money in American democracy, a question associated generally with the Progressive tradition and its legacy, and more particularly with the institutionalist tradition in American economic thought. In this story, which he tells through the ideas and lives of three prominent institutionalists, Allyn Young, Alvin Hansen, and Edward Shaw, progress is measured not by the swings of fashion between two polar traditions of monetary thought--quantity theory and anti-quantity theory--but rather by the success with which each succeeding generation finds its footing on the shifting middle ground between the two extremes.
More than a simple history of monetary doctrine, the book makes a case for the continuing influence of a distinctly American tradition on the evolution of economic thought in general. In this tradition, monetary and financial institutions are shaped by historical forces and adapt to the changing needs of the economy.

The Money Interest and the Public Interest: American Monetary Thought, 1920–1970 (Harvard Economic Studies)

Business & Money

Mehrling, Perry G.

Economics

Harvard University Press

Money and Growth

Sandilands, Roger J.

Taylor&Francis

This book provides a perspective by a prominent economist on the problems of debt, recession, and recovery in the 1930s as compared with the 1990s. The book begins with several chapters on the explosion of debt in the public and private sectors during the 1970s and 1980s, and its implications for economic stagnation and recession that seem to plague the economy. Resolution of the debt problem and reform of the banking and financial system are critically important because these problems dampen economic recovery and growth in the future. The second part of the book is a reprint of Albert Hart's classic 1938 study, Debts and Recovery 1929 to 1937, originally published by the 20th Century Fund. The extraordinary parallel between financial problems of the 1930s and the 1990s, solutions of the past, and proposed reforms for the future may provide a fascinating study for scholars and interested citizens alike.

Debt, Crisis and Recovery: The 1930's and the 1990's: The 1930's and the 1990's (Columbia University Seminar)

Hart, Albert G.

Routledge

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Books by Mehrling, Perry G.