Politics and banking : ideas, public policy, and the creation of financial institutions / Susan Hoffmann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hoffmann, Susan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Banks and banking--United States--History.

Banks and banking.

Banks and banking--Government policy.

History.

United States.

Banks and banking--Government policy--United States--History.

Physical Description:

xii, 304 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Summary:

In Politics and Banking Susan Hoffmann explores the influence of public philosophies -- in particular, classic liberalism, utilitarianism, progressivism, and populism -- on the development of U.S. banking institutions. Focusing on banks, savings and loan associations, and credit unions, Hoffmann demonstrates that though policy makers' political and economic interests surely played a role in the development of these institutions and the policies relating to them, we cannot overlook the importance of ideas.

Following the development of banking from the first Congress through the Great Depression, Hoffmann begins by explaining how particular political ideas helped create the first Bank of the United States. She shows how other ideas -- about the relationship between public and private spheres -- led to the demise of the second Bank of the United States and establishment of the independent treasury. Further chapter topics include the development of the corporate bank; congressional debates on money and banking from the end of the Civil War through the Banking Act of 1935; the creation of savings and loan associations; and a discussion of how philosophical populism led to institutions and policies that emphasize economic democracy. Hoffman concludes by examining the impact of neoliberal public philosophy on U.S. banking today.

Contents:

1 Ideas and Institutions: Public Philosophies and Regulatory Frameworks in U.S. Banking 1

2 The First Bank of the United States: From Many One? 21

3 Andrew Jackson and the Second Bank of the United States: Restoring the Lockean Line 44

4 From State Banks to National Banks: Public and Private 70

5 The Federal Reserve Board: Where Nature Ends 98

6 Progressivism and the S&L Framework: Centering the Purpose 141

7 Credit Unionism and Populist Public Philosophy: Questions of Control 180

8 Whither Banking Regulation? 225.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [287]-295) and index.

ISBN:

0801867029

OCLC:

45166601