The Money View Reading Group reads and discusses writings on money, banking, and finance. We are a self-directed group. Anyone interested in money and banking can read the readings, join us for discussions, or suggest future readings.
We meet for 90 minutes via Zoom on Mondays at 2 pm Eastern Time US (New York).
Central Banking Before 1800: A Rehabilitation by Ulrich Bindseil (2019)
https://www.amazon.com/Central-Banking-before-1800-Rehabilitation/dp/0198849990
From the description:
Although central banking is today often presented as having emerged in the nineteenth or even twentieth century, it has a long and colourful history before 1800, from which important lessons for today’s debates can be drawn. While the core of central banking is the issuance of money of the highest possible quality, central banks have also varied considerably in terms of what form of money they issued (deposits or banknotes), what asset mix they held (precious metals, financial claims to the government, loans to private debtors), who owned them (the public, or private shareholders), and who benefitted from their power to provide emergency loans. Central Banking Before 1800: A Rehabilitation reviews 25 central banks that operated before 1800 to provide new insights into the financial system in early modern times.
2025-09-22 —
The Money View Reading Group reads and discusses writings on money, banking, and finance. We are a self-directed group. Anyone interested in money and banking can read the readings, join us for discussions, or suggest future readings.
We meet for 90 minutes via Zoom on Mondays at 2 pm Eastern Time US (New York).
Central Banking Before 1800: A Rehabilitation by Ulrich Bindseil (2019)
https://www.amazon.com/Central-Banking-before-1800-Rehabilitation/dp/0198849990
From the description:
Although central banking is today often presented as having emerged in the nineteenth or even twentieth century, it has a long and colourful history before 1800, from which important lessons for today’s debates can be drawn. While the core of central banking is the issuance of money of the highest possible quality, central banks have also varied considerably in terms of what form of money they issued (deposits or banknotes), what asset mix they held (precious metals, financial claims to the government, loans to private debtors), who owned them (the public, or private shareholders), and who benefitted from their power to provide emergency loans. Central Banking Before 1800: A Rehabilitation reviews 25 central banks that operated before 1800 to provide new insights into the financial system in early modern times.
During the off week, we discuss the 2022 paper “Rethinking Monetary Sovereignty: The Global Credit Money System and the State” by Steffen Murau and Jens van’t Klooster
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/rethinking-monetary-sovereignty-the-global-credit-money-system-and-the-state/33EE76D8B70FB954A03BF1124B79AA5C
From the abstract:
We propose a new conception of monetary sovereignty that acknowledges the reality of today’s global credit money system. Today, the concept is predominantly used to denote states that issue and regulate their own currency. We reject that Westphalian understanding of monetary sovereignty. Instead, we propose a conception of effective monetary sovereignty that focuses on what states are actually able to do in the era of financial globalization. The conception fits the hybridity of the modern credit money system by acknowledging the crucial role not only of central bank money but also of money issued by regulated banks and unregulated shadow banks. These institutions often operate “offshore”, outside of a state’s legal jurisdiction, which makes monetary governance more difficult. Monetary sovereignty consists in the ability of states to effectively govern these different segments of the monetary system and thereby achieve their economic policy objectives.
We discuss the last two chapters of Bindseil’s Central Banking Before 1800.
- Chapter 6. Early Central Banks’ Economics and Balance Sheets
- Chapter 7. Rehabilitation
Ulrich Bindseil joins us to discuss his book Central Banking Before 1800: A Rehabilitation.
Future Suggested Readings
- A Study of Money Flows in the United States by Morris Copeland (1952)
- Calming the Storms: The Carry Trade, the Banking School and British Financial Crises Since 1825Before 1800 3 by Charles Read (2023)
- An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets by Donald MacKenzie (2007)
- The Golden Age of the Quantity Theory by David Laidler (1991)
- Capitalizing on Crisis: The Political Origins of the Rise of Finance by Greta Krippner (2011)
- Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit by Charles W. Calomiris and Stephen Haber (2014)
- Central Bank Capitalism: Monetary Policy in Times of Crisis by Joscha Wullweber (2024)
- Introduction to Central Banking by Ulrich Bindseil and Alessio Fota (2021)
- The Chairman: John J. McCloy & The Making of the American Establishment by Kai Bird (1992)
- The Bailout State: Why Governments Rescue Banks, Not People by Martijn Konings (2025)
- The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our Time by Giovanni Arrighi (2010)
Past Readings with Discussion Recordings
- Minsky by Daniel H. Neilson (2019)
2021-03-24 — Discussion Session 1
2021-03-31 — Discussion Session 2
2021-04-07 — Discussion with Daniel Neilson
- The Art of Central Banking (Chapter IV) by Ralph Hawtrey (1933)
2021-04-21 — Discussion Session 1
2021-05-05 — Discussion Session 2
2021-05-26 — Discussion with David Glasner
- BIS Working Paper: Breaking free of the triple coincidence in international finance (2015)
2021-05-19 — Discussion Session
- Making Money: Coin, Currency, and the Coming of Capitalism by Christine Desan (2014)
2021-06-02 — Discussion Session 1
2021-06-16 — Discussion Session 2
2021-06-30 — Discussion Session 3
2021-07-14 — Discussion with Christine Desan
- Global Domain of the Dollar: 8 Questions by Robert McCauley
2021-07-07 — Discussion with Robert McCauley
- Money in a Theory of Finance by John G. Gurley, Edward S. Shaw (1960)
2021-07-21 — Discussion Session 1
2021-08-04 — Discussion Session 2
2021-08-18 — Discussion Session 3
- BIS and Bank of England reports on Central Bank Digital Currencies
2021-07-28 — Discussion Session
- The World in Depression, 1929-1939 by Charles P. Kindleberger (1973)
2021-09-01 — Discussion Session 1
2021-09-15 — Discussion Session 2
2021-09-29 — Discussion Session 3
- The Rise of Carry by Jamie Lee et al (2019)
2021-10-13 — Discussion Session 1
2021-10-27 — Discussion Session 2
- The Money Interest and the Public Interest by Perry Mehrling (1998)
2021-11-10 — Discussion Session 1 | Allyn Young
2021-11-24 — Discussion Session 2 | Alvin Hanson
2021-12-08 — Discussion Session 3 | Edward Shaw
- Controlling Credit by Eric Monnet (2018)
2022-01-05 — Discussion Session 1
2022-01-19 — Discussion Session 2
- The Menace of Fiscal QE by George Selgin (2020)
2022-02-02 — Discussion Session
- The New Lombard Street by Perry Mehrling (2011)
2022-02-23 — Discussion Session 1
2022-03-09 — Discussion Session 2
2022-03-23 — Discussion Session 3
- Fighting Financial Crises: Learning from the Past by Gary Gorton, Ellis Tallman (2021)
2022-04-20 — Discussion Session 1
2022-05-11 — Discussion Session 2
- Money and empire: The international gold standard, 1890-1914 by Marcello De Cecco (1974)
2022-05-25 — Discussion Session 1
2022-06-15 — Discussion Session 2
- Central Bank Cooperation 1924-31 by Stephen Clarke (1967)
2022-06-22 — Discussion Session 1
2022-07-06 — Discussion Session 2
- The Money Problem: Rethinking Financial Regulation by Morgan Ricks (2016)
2022-07-27 — Discussion Session 1
2022-08-10 — Discussion Session 2
2022-08-17 — Discussion with Morgan Ricks
- The Crypto Banking System by Sébastien Derivaux (2022)
2022-09-28 — Discussion with Sébastien Derivaux
- The Evolution of Central Banking: Theory and History by Stefano Ugolini (2017)
2022-08-24 — Discussion Session 1
2022-09-07 — Discussion Session 2
2022-09-21 — Discussion Session 3
2022-10-05 — Discussion with Stefano Ugolini
- A Financial History of Western Europe by Charles P. Kindleberger (1984, 1993)
2022-10-19 — Discussion Session 1 | Part 1: Money
2022-11-02 — Discussion Session 2 | Part 2: Banking
2022-11-16 — Discussion Session 3 | Part 3: Finance
2023-01-11 — Discussion Session 4 | Part 4: The Interwar Period
2023-01-18 — Discussion Session 5 | Part 5: After World War II
- Money and Empire: Charles P. Kindleberger and the Dollar System by Perry Mehrling (2022)
2022-11-30 — Discussion Session 1 | Part 1: Intellectual Formation, 1910–1948
2022-12-14 — Discussion Session 2 | Part 2: International Economist, 1948–1976
2022-12-21 — Discussion Session 3 | Part 3: Historical Economist, 1976–2003
2022-12-21 — Discussion #1 with Perry Mehrling
2023-01-04 — Discussion #2 with Perry Mehrling
- Bonds without Borders: A History of the Eurobond Market by Chris O’Malley (2015)
2023-02-15 — Discussion Session 1
2023-03-01 — Discussion Session 2
- Monetary Policy Operations and the Financial System by Ulrich Bindseil (2014)
2023-03-15 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1-8)
2023-03-29 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 9-12)
2023-04-12 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 13-18)
- Capital Wars: The Rise of Global Liquidity by Michael J. Howell (2020)
2023-04-26 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1-7)
2023-05-10 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 8-14)
- A Market Theory of Money by John Hicks (1989)
2023-05-24 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1-7)
2023-06-07 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 8-15)
- The Currency of Politics: The Political Theory of Money from Aristotle to Keynes by Stefan Eich (2022)
2023-06-28 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1 & 2)
2023-07-19 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 3 & 4)
2023-08-02 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 5 & 6)
2023-08-14 — Discussion with Stefan Eich
- Fischer Black and the Revolutionary Idea of Finance by Perry Mehrling (2005)
2023-08-22 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–5)
2023-09-05 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 6–8)
2023-09-19 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 9–11)
2023-09-26 — Discussion with Perry Mehrling
- The Evolution of Central Banks by Charles Goodhart (1988)
2023-10-03 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–6)
2023-10-17 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 7–8, Appendix)
- The Repo Market: Shorts, Shortages, and Squeezes by Scott Skyrm (2023)
2023-11-07 — Discussion Session 1 (pages 1–92)
2023-11-21 — Discussion Session 2 (pages 93–186)
2023-12-05 — Discussion Session 3 (pages 187–310) Part 1 — Part 2
2023-12-12 — Discussion with Scott Skyrm From 39:20
- The Volatility Machine: Emerging Economies and the Threat of Financial Collapse by Michael Pettis (2001)
2023-12-19 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–5)
2024-01-02 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 6–10)
2024-01-09 — Discussion with Michael Pettis
- International Capital Movements by Charles P. Kindleberger (1987)
2024-01-16 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1 & 2)
2024-01-30 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 3 & 4)
- A Political Theory of Money by Anush Kapadia (2024)
2024-02-20 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–4)
2024-03-05 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 5–7)
2024-03-19 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 8–12)
2024-03-26 — Discussion with Anush Kapadia
- The Rise of Central Banks: State Power in Financial Capitalism by Leon Wansleben (2023)
2024-04-02 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–3)
2024-04-23 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 4–6)
2024-05-07 — Discussion with Leon Wansleben
- The Money Illusion: Market Monetarism, the Great Recession, and the Future of Monetary Policy by Scott Sumner (2021)
2024-05-14 — Discussion Session 1 (Parts 1 & 2)
2024-05-28 — Discussion Session 2 (Parts 3 & 4)
2024-06-18 — Discussion Session 3 (Parts 5 & 6)
2024-06-25 — Discussion with Scott Sumner
- Private Money and Public Currencies: The Sixteenth Century Challenge: The Sixteenth Century Challenge by Boyer-Xambeu, Deleplace, and Gillard (1994)
2024-07-02 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–3)
2024-07-16 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 4 & 5)
2024-07-30 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 6, 7 & Conclusion)
- The Arena of International Finance by Charles A. Coombs (1976)
2024-08-13 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1ー6)
2024-08-27 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 7–12)
- The Bill on London: or The Finance of Trade by Bills of Exchange by Gillett Brothers (1952/1976)
2024-09-17 — Discussion Session
- Birth of a Market: The U.S. Treasury Securities Market from the Great War to the Great Depression by Kenneth D. Garbade (2012)
2024-10-01 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–10)
2024-10-15 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 11–15)
2024-10-29 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 16–24)
- A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961–2021 by Alan S. Blinder (2022)
2024-11-12 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–7)
2024-11-26 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 8–13)
2024-12-10 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 14–19)
- Building a Ruin: The Cold War Politics of Soviet Economic Reform by Yakov Feygin (2024)
2025-01-07 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–3)
2025-01-21 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 4–6)
2025-02-04 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 7 & Afterword)
- A Crash Course on Crises: Macroeconomic Concepts for Run-Ups, Collapses, and Recoveries by Markus K. Brunnermeier and Ricardo Reis (2023)
2025-02-25 — Discussion Session 1 (Parts 1 and 2)
2025-03-11 — Discussion Session 2 (Parts 3 and 4)
- The Empire of Value: A New Foundation for Economics by Andre Orlean (2014)
2025-03-25 — Discussion Session 1 (Introduction and Part 1) Part 1 — Part 2
2025-04-08 — Discussion Session 2 (Parts 2 and 3)
2025-04-22 — Discussion Session 3 (Part 4 and Conclusion)
- The Wheels of Commerce by Fernand Braudel (1979/1982)
2025-05-06 — Discussion Session 1 (Chapter 1)
2025-05-13 — Discussion Session 2 (Chapter 2)
2025-05-20 — Discussion Session 3 (Chapter 3)
2025-05-27 — Discussion Session 4 (Chapter 4)
2025-06-03 — Discussion Session 5 (Chapter 5)
- Beyond Banks: Technology, Regulation, and the Future of Money by Dan Awrey (2024)
2025-06-17 — Discussion Session 1 (Intro & Ch 1–3)
2025-07-01 — Discussion Session 5 (Ch 4–7 & Conclusion)
2025-07-08 — Author Discussion with Dan Awrey
- Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance by Kenneth Rogoff (2025) 2025-08-19— Discussion Session 1 (Parts 1-3)
2025-08-26 — Discussion Session 2 (Parts 4-6)
2023-04-05 Discussion of Silicon Valley Bank
2023-04-19 Institutional Cash Pools by Zoltan Pozsar (2011)
2023-05-03 BIS Bulletin #73: Stablecoins vs. Tokenized Deposits (May 3, 2023)
2023-07-05 The Credit–Money Hierarchy: a Republican , Egalitarian Appraisal by Aaron James (2023)
2023-07-26 Public Purpose Finance: The Government’s Role as Lender by Nadav Orian Peer (2020)
2023-10-24 Money and the Public Debt by Lev Menand and Joshua Younger (2023) | 1
2023-10-31 Money and the Public Debt by Lev Menand and Joshua Younger (2023) | 2
2023-11-14 ICMA Repo FAQ by Richard Comotto (2013/2019)
2023-11-28 Basis Trades and Treasury Market Illiquidity by Daniel Barth & Jay Kahn (2020)
2024-01-23 Capital flows and the current account by Borio and Disyatat (2015)
2024-02-13 The dual currency system of Renaissance Europe by Luca Fantacci (2008)
2024-02-27 BIS: Buy now, pay later: a cross-country analysis by Cornelli et al. (2023)
2024-03-12 The non-use of money in the Middle Ages by Bell, Brooks, and Moore (2017)
2024-04-09 The Central Role of Credit Crunches in Recent Financial History by Albert M. Wojnilower (1980)
2024-04-16 Measuring Equilibrium in the Balance of Payments by Charles P. Kindleberger (1969)
2024-04-30 The Rise and Risks of Private Credit — GFSR (April, 2024)
2024-06-04 BIS Working Paper No 1100: Getting up from the floor by Claudio Borio (May, 2023)
2024-06-11 The Offshore Dollar and US Policy by Robert McCauley (May, 2024)
2024-07-09 The (impossible) repo trinity: the political economy of repo markets by Daniela Gabor (2016)
2024-08-07 A Safe Haven for Hidden Risks (May 30, 2024) and Rate Transformation (November 4, 2023) by Elham Saeidinezhad
2024-08-20 The Collateral Supply Effect on Central Bank Policy by Carolyn Sissoko (2020)
2024-09-10 Monetary Policy Implications of Market Maker of Last Resort Operations by Anil K Kashyap (August 23, 2024)
2024-11-05 BIS Bulletin No 90: The market turbulence and carry trade unwind of August 2024 (August 27, 2024)
2024-11-19 Yen Carry Trade and the Subprime Crisis by Masazumi Hattori and Hyun Song Shin (2009)
2024-12-03 After the Allocation: What Role for the Special Drawing Rights System? by Pforr, Pape, and Murau (2022)
2025-01-14 Where Profits Come From by the Levy Forecasting Center by Levy, Farnham, & Rajan (2008/1997)
2025-01-28 The Broad Consequences of Narrow Banking by Matheus R. Grasseli and Alexander Lipton (2019)
2025-02-11 Failing Banks by Sergio Correia, Stephen Luck, and Emil Verner (2024)
2025-02-18 Odd Lots — The Hidden History of Eurodollars by Lev Menand and Joshua Younger (January 2025)
2025-03-04 Of Last Resort: Evaluating the Treasury-Equity Model of Federal Reserve Emergency Lending by Steven Kelly (2024)
2025-03-18 Commercial Banking and Capital Formation I–IV by Harold Moulton (1918)
2025-04-01 Climate Alignment For Banks: The Stories That Numbers Tell by Nadav Orian Peer (2025)
2025-04-15 Shadow Banking: Why Modern Money Markets are Less Stable Than 19th c. Money Markets But Shouldn’t Be Stabilized by a ‘Dealer of Last Resort’ by Carolyn Sissoko (2014)
2025-04-29 Treasury Market and the Basis Trade (Adrian et al. 2025; Kashyap et al. 2025)
2025-06-10 Structural Changes in the Global Financial System lecture by Hyun Song Shin (May 19, 2025)
2025-06-24 International Regimes, Transactions, and Change: Embedded Liberalism in the Postwar Economic Order by John Gerard Ruggie (1982)
2025-07-15 BIS Annual Report Chapter: Financial conditions in a changing global financial system (2025)
2025-07-22 Banks Are Intermediaries of Loanable Funds by George Selgin (2024)
2025-07-29 Theorising non-bank financial intermediation by Jo Michell (2024)
2025-08-05 Banks are different: why bank-based versus market-based lending is a false dichotomy by Carolyn Sissoko (2024)
2025-09-08 Did France Cause the Great Depression? by Douglas A. Irwin (2010)
