Paul Studenski

The work is a focused examination of the financial history of the nation covering evolution from the British colonial system to the mid 1960's. A working knowledge of the wider secular and political history is assumed, as tacit knowledge of the events being responded to by financial history is rarely explicitly referenced. While generally accessible, as the financial system of the nation becomes more complex, the discussion becomes more technical. The work covers not only federal fiscal and monetary policy, but also has consistent, brief examinations of state and local financial policy. The financial history narrated evidences the shift from the centrality of local and state control to the growth of federal government. The transition from tariffs to income and other taxes being the foundation of nation's income is demonstrated. What is apparent throughout the narrative is how transformative wars were to the financial history of the nation. The need to pay off war debts defined the early financial concerns of the federal government. The Civil War previewed novel experiments in fiat currency and the first income taxes. The World Wars and the Great Depression cemented the centrality of Federal economic control, as the Federal government became the guardian of economic stability. The growth of the military necessitated the corresponding need for a stable and substantial income. The work covers the changing attitudes and actions to currency and banking, as once again Federal involvement grew in the control of the nation's monetary supply and the standards that underlay the system. While the work is dated and does not cover the contemporary history, the work lays the foundation for the current reality where the Federal government is the director and guardian of the economy. How the current situation evolved is narrated in the book.… (mehr)