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I’d be curious about the history of the creation of central banks - do you have a source for this? My intuition would be that central banks were developed as as

I’d be curious about the history of the creation of central banks - do you have a source for this? My intuition would be that central banks were developed as asset bubbles became so large that the state became involved - and are designed to maximize state control over assets.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> curious about the history of the creation of central banks - do you have a source for this Your canonical source is Lombard Street [1]. Central banking is a new concept. For most of human history, the game was zero sum. Fixed-supply money worked, which made the complexity of central banking superfluous. It's only in recent centuries that central banks made sense. [1] https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4359 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4359
- eru 4y ago
  I second Lombard Street! However, I'm not sure about your fixed-supply money. Credit and debit have been around for ages, probably longer than money. So in eg for a long time most of the economy didn't use money. It was around the time when the Fuggers came to power that money came to dominate the economy. But around that time (or not much later), bank notes and fractional reserve banking also already became really popular. And those are decidedly not in fixed supply. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugger_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugger_family
  - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
    > was around the time when the Fuggers came to power that money came to dominate the economy It's incredulous to trace post-Medici copper money to the Anglosphere. For the Congress of Vienna powers, sure, to varying degrees. For America, no.
    - eru 4y ago
      Sorry, could you explain what you mean? Fugger was a German merchant, I'm not sure where you take the Anglosphere from? (Btw, I'm not claiming that the Fuggers introduced any of this. Just that their rise coincides with this development in Europe.) I am specifically replying to your claim of 'For most of human history, the game was zero sum. Fixed-supply money worked, [...]' which has no relation to the Anglosphere.
eru 4y ago
https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/white-the-theory-of-free-banking-money-supply-under-competitive-note-issue https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/white-the-theory-of-free-b... has a good historic overview. (George Selgin has a lot of good stuff in general.) Central banks were mostly a power grab by governments. They don't really help with assets bubbles, just the opposite. See also https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2014/5/cato-journal-v34n2-3.pdf https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato... for something more US specific.
tonfa 4y ago
https://www.coursera.org/learn/money-banking https://www.coursera.org/learn/money-banking Goes over the history iirc

JumpCrisscross 4y ago

> curious about the history of the creation of central banks - do you have a source for this Your canonical source is Lombard Street [1]. Central banking is a new concept. For most of human history, the game was zero sum. Fixed-supply money worked, which made the complexity of central banking superfluous. It's only in recent centuries that central banks made sense. [1] https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4359 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4359

eru 4y ago
I second Lombard Street! However, I'm not sure about your fixed-supply money. Credit and debit have been around for ages, probably longer than money. So in eg for a long time most of the economy didn't use money. It was around the time when the Fuggers came to power that money came to dominate the economy. But around that time (or not much later), bank notes and fractional reserve banking also already became really popular. And those are decidedly not in fixed supply. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugger_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugger_family
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > was around the time when the Fuggers came to power that money came to dominate the economy It's incredulous to trace post-Medici copper money to the Anglosphere. For the Congress of Vienna powers, sure, to varying degrees. For America, no.
  - eru 4y ago
    Sorry, could you explain what you mean? Fugger was a German merchant, I'm not sure where you take the Anglosphere from? (Btw, I'm not claiming that the Fuggers introduced any of this. Just that their rise coincides with this development in Europe.) I am specifically replying to your claim of 'For most of human history, the game was zero sum. Fixed-supply money worked, [...]' which has no relation to the Anglosphere.

eru 4y ago

https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/white-the-theory-of-free-banking-money-supply-under-competitive-note-issue https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/white-the-theory-of-free-b... has a good historic overview. (George Selgin has a lot of good stuff in general.) Central banks were mostly a power grab by governments. They don't really help with assets bubbles, just the opposite. See also https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2014/5/cato-journal-v34n2-3.pdf https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato... for something more US specific.

tonfa 4y ago

https://www.coursera.org/learn/money-banking https://www.coursera.org/learn/money-banking Goes over the history iirc