Customer Reviews

The Theory of Monetary Institutions

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A great book. It is very comprehensive and written in a simple way (regarding the complexity of the themes it deals with). The investigation is very objective, it uses sound theoretical analysis and different mathematical models (which he explains in relatively simple terms), contrasting them with the historical evidence and empirical data. It treats the history and development of money (from commodity money to fiat money), and monetary institutions, doing an exceptional analysis of the gold standard, its costs and benefits. It also analyzes the role of Central Bank's in money and banking, and uses various models used to try to explain the Central Bank's behavior, according to different goals that Central Banks may have. Finally, it discusses alternative monetary proposals from Friedman to Yeager, with its pros and cons. In conclusion, a great book to update and deepen your knowledge about money and banking.

This book prepares a student with the background for several relevant debates in monetary theory. Written by Dr. White to cover the material he presents in a semester graduate lecture, this book has the best of both scope and detail. He builds a solid background with Mengerian foundations of money. Then he thoroughly builds a scheme of understanding monetary policy in a gold-backed system. Once this is accomplished, modern financial market complexities are built on top of the books over-arching analysis. Topics made clear include Inflationary bias (Barrow, Gordon, Kyland, and Prescott), hyperinflation, rules vs. discretion, bank deposit insurance, and many other central bank policies which can be difficult without proper guidance.