Lords Of Finance

I picked up this book from a bookstore in mid valley, Kuala Lumpur during one of our short getaways. Being an avid follower of financial history, I hope this book will be give me a better understanding of the causes for the Great Depression. The Lords that the book are referring to are mainly the central bankers of that era and they are Montagu Norman (U.K.), Benjamin Strong ( U.S.), Hjalmar Schacht (Germany) and Emile Moreau (France).

During those days, they are still on a gold standard and so it restrict the flexibility they will have in implementing policies during extreme scenarios. Moreover, all the european major economies were in debt to the US due to the war expenses. Some countries did break away from the gold standard and they fare better than those who stick on to it.

There are also quantitative easing of their kind during those turbulent period which I guess Bernanke might have learn a trick or two from his predecessors. The book also touched on famous personalities such as Winston Churchill, Maynard Keynes and Andrew Mellon.

Towards the end, the book touched on the eventual formulation of the Bretton Woods Treaty which is a modified and more flexible gold standard which lasted from the 1940s to early 1970s.

For financial history fans, this is a book that will be good for your collection.

Lee