The monetary system

tags
Economics

<&wang2021> offers a modern account of the monetary system, and although it touches on the Eurodollar a little bit, it is motly US-focused. Reading through this comprehensive account, or any articlet that touches on the topic, I can’t help but think “how the hell did we get to something so complicated and so fragile?”. This is where a little bit of history cannot hurt. The excellent Monetary Mechanics newsletter has a series on the history of the monetary system that does a good job at explaining how we moved from one system to the next.

Define what a monetary system. Regulates how you can create money via monetary creation policies.

Online #

  • <&murau2020> modern account of the offshore eurodollar system
  • <&wang2021> is a good modern account of the monetary system, with a focus on the US.
  • <&macro2021> history of the lending-deposit system
  • <&macro2021a> history of the private Fed Funds market
  • <&macro2021b> history of the Eurodollar banking system I
  • <&macro2021c> history of the Eurodollar banking system II
  • <&macro2021d> history of certificates of deposits (CDs)
  • Monetary Mechanic’s Issue 42 history of bank holding companies (BHCs)
  • <&macro2022a> history of commercial paper (CP)

Books #

  • Wang, Central Banking 101
  • Warren Mosler, Soft Currency Economics II
  • Michael Howell, Capital Wars: the rise of global liquidity
  • North, Money and Liberation: The Micropolitics of Alternative Currency Movements
  • Eich, The Currency of Politics: The Political Theory of Money from Aristotle to Keynes
  • Stell, The Battle of Bretton Woods
  • Ingham, The Nature of Money
  • Cassi, The world of private banking
  • Goldstein, Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
  • Weatherford, The History of Money
  • Feruson, The Ascent of Money
  • Xu, Empire of Silver: A new Monetary History of China
  • Presad, The future of money: how the digital revolution is transforming currencies and finance

Examples #

  • The US Monetary system
  • The Euro