Lords of Finance is a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of four central bankers who opened the gates to the Great Depression through a flurry of misguided and disastrous policies following the First World War. Copyright ©️ 2023 Goldmoney Inc.Īll rights reserved.…in this book I maintain that the Great Depression was not some act of God or the result of some deep-rooted contradictions of capitalism but the direct result of a series of misjudgments by economic policy makers, some made back in the 1920s, others after the first crises set in – by any measure the most dramatic sequence of collective blunders ever made by financial officials. This read offers extremely revealing insights into the modern day and is recommended to all interested in the history of the Great Depression and the nature of financial crises.
While initially, the gold standard seemed to be successful, it was soon discovered that the system was in fact very flawed and limiting due to the way the policies were designed, leading to the downward spiral of the Great Depression.Īs this century faces great pressing economic issues, Lords of Finance serves as a reminder of the huge effect central bankers have on the economy, how they can often be mistaken, and the disastrous effects that can occur. As a way of combating the effects of the First World War, the bankers attempted a reconstruction of the market by converting the world back to the gold standard- which is strongly criticized by Ahamed.
The bankers had one common fear -inflation- which was the biggest threat to capitalism. The book provides memorable portraits of their lives and decisions as heads of their central banks which had undeniable effects on the course of the century. Lords of Finance follows the lives and eccentric personalities of four central bankers: Montagu Norman from the Bank of England, Emile Moreau of Banque de France, Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank and Benjamin Strong of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. While the 1929 Great Depression is often assumed to have been caused by a series of unrelated and uncontrollable events converging, Ahamed reveals that in fact, the economic meltdown was down to specific decisions made by central bankers who also set the scene for the catastrophic events of the Second World War. It is a revealing, non-fictional account of the events and causes of the Great Depression. Published in 2009, Lords of Finance was written by professional investment manager Liaquat Ahamed.
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