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).

https://www.amazon.com/Fragile-Design-Political-Princeton-Economic/dp/0691168350/

From the description:

Analyzing the political and banking history of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil through several centuries, Fragile by Design demonstrates that chronic banking crises and scarce credit are not accidents. Calomiris and Haber combine political history and economics to examine how coalitions of politicians, bankers, and other interest groups form, why they endure, and how they generate policies that determine who gets to be a banker, who has access to credit, and who pays for bank bailouts and rescues.

• 2025-11-17 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–5) (Recording)
• 2025-12-01 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 6-9) (Recording)

During the off-week, we’ll unpack an X (Twitter) debate between Steve Keen and George Selgin about whether the “fractional reserve banking” model requires loans to be made in cash. Steve Keen says yes. George Selgin says no. We also get comments by Richard Werner and B. Gültekin Çetiner.

https://x.com/drcetiner/status/1993889771085517234?s=48&t=O0bUtArMQEbt-hFbbQ3HSg

Steve Keen also has a video in which he claims to demonstrate that cashless fractional reserve banking violates double-entry accounting.

https://youtu.be/7uEVI9UDKnQ?si=eyjou8uCsAUwwtlc

We discuss Sections Three and Four, the final two sections, of Fragile by Design.

• Section Three: Authoritarianism, Democratic Transitions, and the Game of Bank Bargains
  10 Mexico: Chaos Makes Cronyism Look Good 331
  11 When Autocracy Fails: Banking and Politics in Mexico since 1982 366
  12 Inflation Machines: Banking and State Finance in Imperial Brazil 390
  13 The Democratic Consequences of Inflation-Tax Banking in Brazil 415
• Section Four: Going beyond Structural Narratives
  14 Traveling to Other Places: Is Our Sample Representative? 451
  15 Reality Is a Plague on Many Houses 479

• Our Money: Monetary Policy as if Democracy Matters by Leah Downey (2025)
• Treatise on Money by Joseph Schumpeter (1970/2014)
• After the Accord by Kenneth D. Garbade (2021)
• A Study of Money Flows in the United States by Morris Copeland (1952)
• A History of the Greenbacks by Wesley Clair Mitchell (1903)
• Calming the Storms: The Carry Trade, the Banking School and British Financial Crises Since 1825 by Charles Read (2023)
• Benjamin Strong: Central Banker by Lester V. Chandler (1958)
• An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets by Donald MacKenzie (2007)
• Currency and Credit (4e) by Ralph Hawtrey (1950)
• 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)
• The Federal Reserve System by Paul Warburg (1930)
• 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)
• Manias, Panics, and Crashes (8e) by Robert McCauley (2023)
• The Bailout State: Why Governments Rescue Banks, Not People by Martijn Konings (2025)

• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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 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)
• Central Banking Before 1800: A Rehabilitation by Ulrich Bindseil (2019)
  2025-09-01 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1&2)
  2025-09-15 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 3–5)
  2025-09-29 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 6&7)
  2025-10-13 — Author Discussion with Ulrich Bindseil
• The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our Times by Giovanni Arrighi (2010)
  2025-10-20 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1&2)
  2025-11-03 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 3)
  2025-11-10 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 4)