The Fed: The Inside Story of How the World's Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives the Markets (Hardcover)

by Martin Mayer (Author) "AS THE MILLENNIUM TURNS, central banks are in apotheosis..." (more)
Key Phrases: twelve district banks, open market desk, bank examination, Federal Reserve, New York, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Martin Mayer's engaging examination of the much-talked-about but little understood U.S. Federal Reserve begins with the dramatic events of October 1998, a month in which the market closed "lock limit down" for the first time in almost a decade. At the same time, Alan Greenspan, the Fed's chairman, began radically reinventing his agency's role and its influence on the market. Indeed, while most of the rest of the world's countries were diminishing the role of their central banks, Congress was granting new powers and responsibilities to the Fed. Mayer's book--part history, part journalistic report, and all detailed analysis--looks at the significance of those powers, their benefits and risks, and what they mean to the markets. He also devotes chapters to the day-to-day inner workings of the Fed, its influence in international financial matters, and its possible role in coming years.

As a prolific author and respected economics scholar, Mayer has been immersed in the financial world for decades and provides both bird's-eye and long-range views of money's complicated maneuverings. Without his excellent storytelling abilities and fluid writing style, this book would be heavy going for anyone who doesn't speak the language of high finance. Though it is most definitely dense (and its structure somewhat erratic), Mayer manages to make a complicated subject accessible for those with more interest than actual knowledge. An informative look at a hitherto enigmatic but influential institution. --S. Ketchum

From Publishers Weekly
To most investors, the Fed is one person Chairman Alan Greenspan whose job is to set interest rates. In this entertaining and enlightening account, popular financial journalist Mayer (The Bankers; The Greatest-Ever Bank Robbery) traces the evolution of the Federal Reserve from a sleepy regulatory agency to the most powerful economic institution in the world. Created in 1913, the Fed was designed to regulate banks in an era when they, and not the government, were assumed to control the economy; interest-rate setting was only a minor part of the agency's job. With the rise of a global economy in which individual banks no longer wield their former influence, the Fed has completely reinvented itself. Mayer, a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, tells of turf battles with the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in addition to conflicts with bankers and foreign institutions. Although his tale involves extensive discussion of topics like check clearing, reserve assets and regulatory accounting, and most of the protagonists are staid, Mayer livens things up with irreverent character sketches, flamboyant prose (considering the subject matter) and canny storytelling. At the same time, he presents the historical and economic details accurately. (June Forecast: Written with the verve of a Vanity Fair magazine article, and supported by a 20-city radio satellite tour, this very topical book should attract fans of Mayer's previous books, in addition to investors who wish to make sense of the Fed's role in the market.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; First Edition; First Printing edition (June 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068484740X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684847405
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #996,447 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Inside Story of the Fed, Just Like it Says, December 21, 2001

By	Jim Seligman (USA) - See all my reviews

This book will be enjoyed by those who want to see the Fed as a very human institution with its own quirks and foibles. It helps to add a dimension of knowledge about the Fed that is hard to get anywhere else.

If you are a hard core economist with strong political views or an ardent fan of Friedman or Greenspan you won't like it. It shows the human side of many of the major figures.

I thought it was well done and enjoyed it immensely. I have read most of the major books on the Fed and read their open market operations briefs every day, and spend a lot of time on the various Fed websites.

This book is generally sound, and although there are those who would tend to dismiss Mayer, as he is not an economic scholar, the great strength of this book is that Mayer realizes that the Fed is not a university seeking truth. It is a political and financial institution not above the day to day fray, with its own sort of organizational politics.

I have also read most of the major books about Greenspan, and this one adds a dimension to his persona that connected the dots for me.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not good at all, July 8, 2006

By	aberham linkin "personalized signature" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fed: The Inside Story How World's Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives Markets (Paperback)

When people buy books like this, in most cases, they don't know much about the topic and would like to learn more about it. This author writes as if the reader knows everything already, speaking of person after person and concept after concept all along he barely introduces anyone or explains the concepts which he is writing about in any logical fashion. In addition, the author goes on tangents and loses focus which is hard to follow. On top of that, this book is packed with pro-fed propoganda I found to be out of place. If you already know everything about how the federal reserve works and it's history, this book might keep your attention, but then again why would you buy this book if you already knew everything about the fed? I would not suggest this book. I wanted to learn about the fed but instead I wasted both my time and money.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dry and tedious, September 1, 2007

By	MarkyMark - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fed: The Inside Story How World's Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives Markets (Paperback)

Reading this book felt a bit like listening to the pompous diatribes of an elitist that is so self absorbed about his own knowledge that he does not care to take the time to explain anything. I'm sure there is lots of good information to be had if I had a solid understanding of how the fed worked already, but then that would have defeated the purpose for which I bought the book!