Fiction
Nonfiction

The Federal Reserve

by Robert L. Hetzel
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Published by The University of Chicago Press

“An ambitious history . . . [Hetzel’s] book is a very important contribution to the literature on the history of U.S. monetary policy.” -EH.net

In The Federal Reserve: A New History, Robert L. Hetzel draws on more than forty years of experience as an economist in the central bank to trace the influences of the Fed on the American economy. Comparing periods in which the Fed stabilized the economy to those when it did the opposite, Hetzel tells the story of a century-long pursuit of monetary rules capable of providing for economic stability.

Recast through this lens and enriched with archival materials, Hetzel’s sweeping history offers a new understanding of the bank’s watershed moments since 1913. This includes critical accounts of the Great Depression, the Great Inflation, and the Great Recession—including how these disastrous events could have been avoided.

A critical volume for a critical moment in financial history, The Federal Reserve is an expert, sweeping account that promises to recast our understanding of the central bank in its second century.

“Hetzel’s book skillfully traces out the Fed’s uneven history. He carefully identifies and explains the reasons for the Fed’s major failures and successes and he covers the most recent episodes—the financial crisis, Great Recession, and the COVID-19 crisis—in great detail. Hetzel’s own intellectual framework provides valuable nuances, resulting in a unified view of Fed policy, before and after 1980, with reference to a single model.” —Peter Ireland, Boston College

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