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|  | Author: Liaquat Ahamed
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
List Price: $32.95
Buy New: $8.65
as of 11/23/2009 16:02 CST details
You Save: $24.30 (74%)
New (71) Used (36) Collectible (2) from $7.98
Seller: outlook_books
Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 5100
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.4 x 2
ISBN: 159420182X
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.10922
EAN: 9781594201820
ASIN: 159420182X
Publication Date: January 22, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 26-30 of 61
 Lords of Finance May 27, 2009
James L. Turnipseed (Birmingham, AL USA)
Unbelievable history of this period. The author tied the politicial history to the financial history. Could not put it down. Conclusions were open to debate, but the history was great reading.
An alternate view of the great depression May 26, 2009
James Braun (Cincinnati)
I bought this book because I was interested in learning more about the Great Depression and what similarities there may be to our current economic crisis. I was amazed at several points in the book where the author was describing events of the 1920's that almost mirror those of today. Particularly the sections on the stock market bubble of 1929, the fears of government spending, interest rate manipulations, etc. In many ways history does repeat itself.
The debate about the gold standard will continue beyond my lifetime and the author gives credit to its successful use before WWI. However, the world was forever changed after WWI. War debt, reparations, stock market bubbles, the desire of the "Lords" to return to the gold standard, and the impact of financial and political decisions on the world economy is the central theme. The book is well written and researched and the author does an excellent job of presenting a generally dry and complicated topic in a fresh and understandable style.
Highly recommended.
Imbecile Institutions May 23, 2009
Jon Thomas
This is a very well written book. The author held my interest throughout the book. The narrative greatly increased my knowledge of the economic facts of that era. The book is somewhat long (500+ pages) and the author does get into the intricacies of who said and did what. But since the story is such an interesting and compelling one, I was not particularly put off by the abundance of detail attached to the storyline.
The main thing that I came away with from the book was confirmation of what the early 20th century American economist, Thorstein Veblen, described as the history of economic crises being largely defined by the inability of nations and peoples to reconcile their "imbecile institutions" to the facts of the matter. That is, human institutions are conservative in nature and slow to change. Changing realities and circumstances run headlong into the non-adaptable institutions leading to socio-economic disaster.
For the purposes of this book, the "imbecile institution" is the gold standard. By the author's lights, the gold standard was as J.M. Keynes put it, "a barbarous relic" and "fetish" from an earlier era. Keynes made the observation that digging gold out of the ground from a deep hole only to store it away virtually forever in another deep hole in the ground (the central bank vault) was a practice that did not bear a great deal of critical scrutiny. The gold standard provided a very brittle, inflexible measure from which to practice international trade and currency stabilization. The whole economic history of Western Europe and the US. between the two world wars provides testimonial to that fact. Take a look at the author's graph on pg. 479 that shows the timing of England, France, Germany, and the US effectively going off the gold standard. If you do not find the author's text convincing, come up with an argument to refute the graphical facts. Economic recovery began concurrently with the abandonment of the gold standard.
Additionally, the author gives an amusing description of the old "gold standard" international gold exchange. Gold is heavy, valuable, and consequently difficult to transport. Consequently, the central banks of Europe and the US didn't move the stuff around too much. When a certain amount of gold was transferred from one nation's account to another, that bullion was loaded onto pallets and shifted, for example, from the Banque de France's vault corner into the "US corner" or the "Bank of England's corner" in the same vault. There is something very comic opera about this symbolic practice of shuffling gold around in the various nation's central bank vaults and having the world's financiers taking this process very, very seriously.
I enjoyed the author's comments on the Smoot-Hawley Act of June 1930 found on pg. 375-6. Despite the popular canard amongst "free trade" enthusiasts that Smoot-Hawley caused the Depression and Crash, this doesn't square with the fact that the protectionist tariff was introduced in June 1930--after the October 1929 crash. The tariff was an effect of deteriorating economic conditions, not a major cause of it. Since exports in 1930 in the US were less than 4% of US GDP, it is irrational to claim that Smoot-Hawley significantly contributed to the economic depression in the US. If anything, the tariff was very mildly stimulative for US domestic industry. It would be appreciated if the "free trade" spokespeople and politicians actually bothered to check the historical facts before endlessly parroting this overripe canard.
It is books like this that makes economic history more accessible and palatable to the educated general public. There's no question that the public desperately needs to be better informed on these issues. A very worthwhile book to increase your knowledge of international financial affairs and historical events.
 A real education in international finances. May 18, 2009
William E. Sauser (central Maryland)
International banking has always been a mystery to me. I never quite got what "central" banks were all about and how they function on the world stage. This book has educated me to dozens of unanswered questions. It is a bit of a tough read because it jumps from country to country and era to era, but all in all, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know the history of the world of finance.
A key title for our times May 17, 2009
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
The Depression is largely attributed to a series of events beyond anyone's control when in fact, Liaquat Ahamed maintains, it was decisions made by a small number of central bankers that resulted in the Depression events. LORDS OF FINANCE examines this inner circle, providing biographies of participants and analyzing their financial choices and reasoning. A key title for our times, for both business, economics, and general-interest collections.
Showing reviews 26-30 of 61
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