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 usually meet via Zoom every Tuesday at 4 pm Eastern Time US (New York).

https://www.amazon.com/Wheels-Commerce-Civilization-Capitalism-15th-18th/dp/0060150912/

In the Money and Banking MOOC, Mehrling cites Braudel as describing the historical hybrdity between “king’s money” and “merchant money.” Braudel provides an account of how shops, markets and fairs, trade circuits, bills of exchange, and banking evolved across Europe and beyond during the preindustrial era. The story remains attached to the real side of the economy, which is something that Mehrling often abstracts away from.

From the description:

Braudel focuses on the markets and exchanges that have been the real motors of change in this volume. Peddlers, merchants, fairs, market stalls, the first stock exchanges, means of travel and communication, styles of life and social mores.

During the off week between books, we discuss two recent papers about the Treasury market function (and dysfunction) during—and in the lead-up to the 2020 Covid crisis.

Paper #1: U.S. Treasury Market Functioning from the GFC to the Pandemic by Tobias Adrian, Michael Fleming, and Kleopatra Nikolaou

This paper is a historical/empirical account of what the Treasury market has been experiencing since the Global Financial Crisis.

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr1146.pdf

From the abstract:

This article examines U.S. Treasury securities market functioning from the global financial crisis (GFC) through the Covid-19 pandemic given the ensuing market developments and associated policy responses. We describe the factors that have affected intermediaries, including regulatory changes, shifts in ownership patterns, and increased electronic trading. We also discuss their implications for market functioning in both normal times and times of stress. We find that alternative liquidity providers have stepped in as constraints on dealer liquidity provision have tightened, supporting liquidity during normal times, but with less clear effects at times of stress. We conclude with a brief discussion of more recent policy initiatives that are intended to promote market resilience.

Paper #2: Treasury Market Dysfunction and the Role of the Central Bank by Anil K Kashyap, Jeremy C. Stein, Jonathan L. Wallen, and Joshua Younger

This paper offers a theoretical model of Treasury-market dysfunction and the cash-futures basis trade.

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/4_Kashyap-et-al.pdf

From the abstract:

We build a simple model that shows how the incentives and constraints facing three key types of market players—broker-dealers, hedge funds, and asset managers— interact to create a heightened level of fragility in the Treasury market, and how this fragility can become more pronounced as the supply of Treasury securities increases. After validating a number of the model’s empirical premises and implications, we ask what it can tell us about how the Federal Reserve might best address future episodes of market dysfunction. In so doing, we take as given that an important priority for any Fed response to Treasury-market dysfunction is that it be clearly separated from anything having to do with monetary policy.

We discuss Chapter 1 of Braudel’s The Wheels of Commerce.

Chapter 1: The Instruments of Exchange

• Europe: the wheels of trade at the lowest level
• Europe: the wheels of trade at the highest level
• The world outside Europe
• Concluding hypotheses

We discuss Chapter 2 of Braudel’s The Wheels of Commerce.

Chapter 2: Markets and the Economy

• Merchants and trade circuits
• Trading profits, supply and demand
• Markets and their geography
• National economies and the balance of trade
• Locating the market

We discuss Chapter 3 of Braudel’s The Wheels of Commerce.

Chapter 3: Production: or Capitalism Away from Home

• Capital, capitalist, capitalism
• Land and money
• Capitalism and pre-industry
• Transport and capitalist enterprise
• A rather negative balance sheet

We discuss Chapter 4 of Braudel’s The Wheels of Commerce.

Chapter 4: Capitalism on Home Ground

• At the top of the world of trade
• Capitalist choices and strategies
• Individual firms and merchant companies
• Back to a threefold division

We discuss Chapter 5 of Braudel’s The Wheels of Commerce.

Chapter 5: Society: ‘A Set of Sets’

• Social hierarchies
• The all-pervasive state
• Civilizations do not always put up a fight
• Capitalism outside Europe

By Way of Conclusion

• 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 1825 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)
• Beyond Banks: Technology, Regulation, and the Future of Money by Dan Awrey (2024)
• 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)
• Comparing Financial Systems by Franklin Allen and Douglas Gale (2000)
• 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)
• Central Banking Before 1800: A Rehabilitation by Ulrich Bindseil (2019)

• 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)

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)