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Not Just the Great Contraction: Friedman and Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States 1867 to 1960

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  • Michael D. Bordo
  • Hugh Rockoff

Abstract

Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz published A Monetary History of the United States: 1867 to 1960 with Princeton University Press in 1963, to critical acclaim. Since then the book's reputation has grown and it clearly has become one of the most influential volumes in economics in the twentieth century. In this paper we document the extraordinary impact of A Monetary History and argue that the key to this success was the use of the "narrative approach" to the problem of identifying the effects of monetary policy on economic activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael D. Bordo & Hugh Rockoff, 2013. "Not Just the Great Contraction: Friedman and Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States 1867 to 1960," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 61-65, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:103:y:2013:i:3:p:61-65
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.61
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Ten Years After Bear
      by Steve Cecchetti and Kim Schoenholtz in Money, Banking and Financial Markets on 2018-03-12 12:26:11

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    Cited by:

    1. Eichengreen, Barry & Mehl, Arnaud & Chitu, Livia & Richardson, Gary, 2015. "Mutual Assistance between Federal Reserve Banks: 1913–1960 as Prolegomena to the TARGET2 Debate," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 75(3), pages 621-659, September.
    2. James R. Lothian & George S. Tavlas, 2018. "How Friedman and Schwartz Became Monetarists," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(4), pages 757-787, June.
    3. Michael D. Bordo, 2014. "Tales from the Bretton Woods," NBER Working Papers 20270, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Dumitriu, Ramona & Stefanescu, Razvan, 2013. "Provocările politicii monetare [Monetary policy challenges]," MPRA Paper 50261, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 28 Sep 2013.
    5. Monnet, Eric & Velde, François R., 2020. "Money, Banking, and Old-School Historical Economics," CEPR Discussion Papers 15348, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Dellas, Harris & Tavlas, George, 2019. "The Dog that Didn’t Bark: The Curious Case of Lloyd Mints, Milton Friedman and the Emergence of Monetarism," CEPR Discussion Papers 13858, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Allan H. Meltzer, 2014. "Slow Recovery with Low Inflation," Book Chapters, in: Martin Neil Baily & John B. Taylor (ed.), Across the Great Divide: New Perspectives on the Financial Crisis, chapter 8, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
    8. Irfan Ahmed & Claudio Socci & Francesca Severini & Qaiser Rafique Yasser & Rosita Pretaroli, 2018. "Forecasting investment and consumption behavior of economic agents through dynamic computable general equilibrium model," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, December.
    9. Harris Dellas & George Tavlas, 2019. "The dog that didn’t bark: the curious case of Lloyd Mints, Milton Friedman and the emergence of monetarism," Working Papers 264, Bank of Greece.
    10. Patrick Newman, 2016. "Expansionary Monetary Policy at the Federal Reserve in the 1920s," Advances in Austrian Economics, in: Studies in Austrian Macroeconomics, volume 20, pages 105-134, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    11. Pooyan Amir-Ahmadi & Gustavo S. Cortes & Marc D. Weidenmier, 2020. "Regional Monetary Policies and the Great Depression," NBER Working Papers 26695, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. David Laidler, 2013. "Reassessing the Thesis of the Monetary History," University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers 20135, University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute.
    13. Michael D. Bordo, 2013. "Review of Ben S. Bernanke: The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis," Economics Working Papers 13109, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • N11 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N12 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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    1. Not Just the Great Contraction: Friedman and Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States 1867 to 1960 (AER 2013) in ReplicationWiki

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