Central Banks, Democratic States and Financial Power

Assesses central bank policies towards capitalist money creation and war finance against inflationary and deflationary class strengths in specific democracies.

Jocelyn Pixley (Author)

9781107552340, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 October 2018

474 pages, 4 b/w illus. 3 tables
22.8 x 15 x 2.4 cm, 0.68 kg

'Providing rich historical context, Pixley examines the origins and evolution of central banks in democratic states - particularly the Federal Reserve in the US - and their inextricable connections to other economic and political players from the early 20th century to this day, revealing the fundamentally social nature of money. … The culmination of decades of reflection and writing, this deeply knowledgeable book makes a valuable contribution not only to economic sociology but also to political economy and historical sociology, placing central banks in a rich historical context.' J. Li, Choice

When the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England purchased bank and state debt during the 2007–2008 crisis, it became apparent that, when technically divorced from fiscal policy, monetary policy cannot revive but only prevent economic activity deteriorating further. Pixley explains how conflicting social forces shape the diverse, complex relations of central banks to the money production of democracies and the immense money creation by capitalist banking. Central banks are never politically neutral and, despite unfair demands, are unable to prevent collapses to debt deflation or credit/asset inflation. They can produce debilitating depressions but not the recoveries desired in democracies and unwanted by capitalist banks or war finance logics. Drawing on economic sociology and economic histories, this book will appeal to informed readers interested in studying democracies, banks and central banking's ambivalent positions, via comparative and distributive perspectives.

1. Who wanted central banks?
2. War finance, private banks, shared monetary sovereignty
3. Peace finance in bankers' ramps, 1920s–1930s
4. Central banks, democratic hopes, 1930s–1970s
5. Vietnam War, dollar float and Nixon
6. The great inflation scare of Phillips curve myths
7. Pseudo-independent central banks and inflation target prisons
8. The state of monetary sovereignty
9. Searching for the absurd in central banking.

Subject Areas: Banking [KFFK], Finance [KFF], Political economy [KCP], Monetary economics [KCBM], Sociology [JHB]