Book reviews/Financial Stability
Book notes: Walter Bagehot, by Janet Seaton and Barry Winetrobe
This slim biography succeeds in its mission of painting a portrait of a remarkable man
Book notes: Bankers’ trust, by Aditi Sahasrabuddhe
A novel investigation into how trust among central bankers – or lack thereof – helped and worsened crises of the past
Book notes: Private finance, public power, Peter Conti-Brown and Sean H Vanatta
A detailed history of bank supervision in the United States from 1789 to 1980
Book notes: Making money work, by Matt Sekerke and Steve H Hanke
This book provides a critique of the post-crisis monetary and financial system, proposing changes that deserve to be broadly read
Book notes: Central banking at the frontier, by Thammarak Moenjak
This well-structured book provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges digitalisation poses for finance and includes possible actions for central banks
Book notes: The young Fed, by Mark Carlson
A thoughtful book on an important topic and a less widely studied period of US financial history from which every central bank economist could learn
Book notes: The bankers’ new clothes, second edition, by Anat Admati and Martin Hellwig
A disjointed book where ‘I told you so’ new chapters add little to the excellent original analysis
Book notes: O Governador, by Luis Rosa
Documents Carlos Costa’s clashes with Portugal’s elite during the eurozone sovereign debt and banking crisis
Book notes: The Federal Reserve: a new history, by Robert L Hetzel
This book should become the standard reference for scholars
Book notes: Yellen, by Jon Hilsenrath
This book offers new insights into the tough decisions and tremendous efforts Yellen has made as a pre-eminent economic policy-maker
Book notes: The Fed unbound, by Lev Menand
Instead of the Fed expanding its tasks to meet shadow banking needs, this book calls for charter-like oversight of NBFIs
Book notes: Shutdown, by Adam Tooze
A useful, wide-ranging overview, showing how health and economic policies are intimately intertwined with geopolitics
Book notes: The handbook of China’s financial system, edited by Marlene Amstad, Sun Guofeng and Xiong Wei
An important, comprehensive and informed overview of the current state of the Chinese financial system
Book notes: The political economy of bank regulation in developing countries, edited by Emily Jones
A pioneering academic – but reader-friendly – monograph on the response of peripheral countries to Basel standards
Book notes: Stable banks in challenging times, by Andreas Dombret
Dombret’s stability and rule-based compass should be that for every aspiring central banker, worldwide
Book notes: In the combat zone of finance, by Svein Harald Øygard
A fascinating and readable book for those charged with maintaining financial stability and interested in a new perspective on institutional efficiency
Book notes: Crisis spaces, by Costis Hadjimichalis
“Don’t buy this book, unless you are a dedicated Marxist”
Book notes: After the crash, by Sharyn O’Halloran and Thomas Groll
The book seeks to identify seeds of the next crisis, and the overriding impression is a plea for more regulation
Book notes: Shadow networks, by Francisco Louçã and Michael Ash
While not all central bankers will read this book, the problems it presents should not be left to politicians to solve
Book notes: Currency, credit and crisis, by Patrick Honohan
Honohan brings an analytical eye to the measures taken to avert a deep crisis in Ireland
Book notes: Floored!, by George Selgin
Michael Reddell remains unconvinced the Fed’s introduction of the IOR prolonged the recession, but credits Selgin’s argument the IOR policy made the central bank a more powerful credit lender