Triumph of the Bankers: Money and Banking in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

by William F. Hixson

Overview

In this sure-to-be-controversial history of money and banking, Hixson examines the historical and resulting present-day deficiencies of the U.S. monetary and banking system. His study reveals that in a whole series of historical cases over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries faulty economic principles were applied to the developing system. His bold conclusions include suggestions that: commercial banks should be required to maintain 100 percent reserves on all demand-deposit accounts and thus be denied the present privilege of creating credit-money; and the federal government should be the sole creator of money in the economy. As in his previous book, Hixson challenges generally accepted historical and economic wisdom, making this a significant contribution to the literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275946074
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/28/1993
Series:	Bibliographies & Indexes in Anthropology S
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

WILLIAM F. HIXSON is a retired businessman and engineer, as well as an amateur economist, who has published articles in the Eastern Economic Jourbanal, The History of Economics Society Bulletin, and Economies et Societes./e He is the author of A Matter of Interest: Reexamining Money, Debt, and Real Economic Growth (Praeger, 1991).

Table of Contents

Introduction
"Smith's Law" and "Fisher's Equation of Exchange"
The Impracticality of a Gold/Silver Standard
The Undesirability of a Gold/Silver Standard
Low Growth Rates of Money Supply
More Rapid Growth Rates of Money Supply
Money as a Legal and Psychological Matter
Paper Money Created by Colonial Governments: Background and the Pennsylvania Example
Paper Money Created by Colonial Governments: Other Examples and Summation
Paper Money Created by Private Banks in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Adam Smith on the Bank of England and Banking in General
Financing the War for Independence of the United States
The Decade of the 1780s in the United States
The Constitution, Money, and Banking in the Early Decades of the United States
Money and Banking in Britain from 1792-1821
Money and Banking in Britain in the Later Years of the Nineteenth Century
The Bank of the United States and Other Matters, 1800-1836
The Discovery of Gold in California and Other Matters, 1836-1860
Union Financing of the Civil War, 1861-1863
Union Financing of the Civil War, 1864-1866
From War's End to the Resumption of Gold Payments, 1865-1879
Bimetallism and Populism, 1879-1896
New Gold Discoveries and Other Matters, 1896-1914
The Period 1864-1914 Considered as a Whole
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Analyzes the perennial and unrelenting struggle between creditors and debtors, i.e. bankers and entrepreneurs. Considers several general characteristics of money and its function and impact on the economy, and money-creation and banking in Britain, colonial America, and the United States. History rather than economics, requiring no specialized knowledge. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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