The Money Interest and the Public Interest | Wrap-up Discussion

We conclude our discussion of Perry Mehrling's 1998 book The Money Interest and the Public Interest: American Monetary Thought 1920–1970.

https://www.amazon.com/Money-Interest-Public-American-1920-1970/dp/0674584309/

Note that a hard copy of the book is hard to find right now.

This book traces the development of monetary thought in the 20th century through three parts, each of which is an intellectual biography of a different economics professor.

*"Perry Mehrling tells a story of continuity around the crucial question of the role of money in American democracy, a question associated generally with the Progressive tradition and its legacy, and more particularly with the institutionalist tradition in American economic thought. In this story, which he tells through the ideas and lives of three prominent institutionalists, Allyn Young, Alvin Hansen, and Edward Shaw, progress is measured not by the swings of fashion between two polar traditions of monetary thought–quantity theory and anti-quantity theory–but rather by the success with which each succeeding generation finds its footing on the shifting middle ground between the two extremes."*

After three sessions—one each for Allyn Young, Alvin Hansen, and Edward Shaw—we'll reflect on the book as a whole and further explore some of the questions and ideas that we've raised.