The Fed

In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world adopted new “tools” to influence economic activity in addition to its standard open market operations.

These days, the commercial banking system isn’t where the action is. Instead, it’s the shadow banking system that needs direct feeding to goose inflation—at least inflation in asset prices, and also to keep the debt service on the nation’s debt as low as possible.

Why do we have money in the first place? Where does it come from, and what determines its form? What qualities make for a good money? What role do banks play—is it something other than what money itself does for us?

Economist Robert Murphy lays out the purpose and structure of his upcoming book Understanding Money Mechanics, a guide to the Federal Reserve System that is a must-read for laymen. It will be released as a bimonthly serial on the Mises Wire and then published as a book.