Lords of Finance
#1810 of 2,629 all-time
Lords of Finance
Robert G. Brown, John H. D. Scoville
4 people recommended it in 3 threads, 2011–2020.
What people on Hacker News said
How few people saw things coming. People thought the skirmishes that ended up precipitating WW I would soon be over, Irvin Fisher confidently declaimed just before the 1929 stock market crash that “stock prices have reached what appears to be a permanently high plateau”, people didn’t pay much attention to this obscure Adolf Hitler guy.
How slow things were back then. The British finance minister (“Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of Her Majesty's Exchequer”) would get on a steam ship, incognito, for a month or so to visit his counterpart in the US, then skipper back, and months later respond to the crisis.
The author does a really good job of showing just what central banks do and how their responses to economic events shape outcomes.
The book entirely focuses on the Great Depression and the central banks of the USA/Europe but it’s really well written and really helped me appreciate what the fed does.
Where it comes up
- Ask HN: Book recommendations for understanding financial systems? 2020 · 2 recommendations
- Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance? 2016 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011 2011 · 1 recommendation