The Market, the State, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, 1934–2000

This is the first history of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im) based on archival sources.

William H. Becker (Author), William M. McClenahan, Jr (Author)

9780521101165, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 February 2009

356 pages, 4 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.52 kg

"...an important contribution to the scholarly literature on international trade." EH.NET

This is the first history of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im) based on archival sources. As the government's exports credit agency, Ex-Im promotes exports through loans, guarantees and insurance and has had an unusual history as a public institution shaped by market principles. Congress mandated that the Bank only provide credit with a reasonable assurance of repayment. But the rules of the market and the needs of the state conflicted at times. Ex-Im has played a part in all the major events that marked the growing involvement of the United States in the international economy. In the last two decades, the bank has carried on its congressionally mandated mission in an increasingly complicated environment brought on by changes in private capital markets; congressional constraints on its budgets; major financial crises in Latin America and South-East Asia; fast-moving developments in communications and information technology and the demands of non-governmental organisations devoted to environmental protection.

Introduction
1. Setting a flexible course: The Export-Import Bank 1934–9
2. World War and its aftermath
3. Cold War and the needs of a new era 1948–61
4. Becoming 'two institutions'
5. New mandates and new limits
6. Turmoil and turning points
7. A new era and its challenges, the 1990s
Epilogue
Appendices
Index.

Subject Areas: Business & management [KJ], Economic history [KCZ], Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], History of the Americas [HBJK]