Senior Thesis on the FED, monetary system

[sl7yz0r]

So I have begun the process of writing my senior thesis.
Topic" Negative influences of the federal reserve/US monetary system

As of right now I am looking for scholarly, respected sources.
Obviously 'END THE FED' is my #1 but I'm going to need to do quite a bit of research.
Any suggestions?

[Sentient Void]

How about 'Theory of Money and Credit' by Mises?

[LibertyMage]

WHAT HAS GOVERNMENT DONE TO OUR MONEY?

http://mises.org/books/whathasgovernmentdone.pdf

[emazur]

Use the scholarly sources cited in Creature from Jekyll Island

[MikeStanart]

I would refrain from using "End the Fed" as little as possible if your graduation hinges on this thesis. Try finding other academic materials and essentially go about proving the same thing that Paul did in his book, but don't seek to quote Ron Paul every other line as your "proving source". Keep in mind that most academics still view Paul's views as "kooky".

Explain your thesis. Hook them with credible academic sources that your professors will buy into. Prove your thesis with infallible logic. Then at the end be all like "Beeatch Ron Paul has been saying the same damned thing for yearzz!".

[Sola_Fide]

I would refrain from using "End the Fed" as little as possible if your graduation hinges on this thesis. Try finding other academic materials and essentially go about proving the same thing that Paul did in his book, but don't seek to quote Ron Paul every other line as your "proving source". Keep in mind that most academics still view Paul's views as "kooky".

Explain your thesis. Hook them with credible academic sources that your professors will buy into. Prove your thesis with infallible logic. Then at the end be all like "Beeatch Ron Paul has been saying the same damned thing for yearzz!".

Good advice.

[ClayTrainor]

Good advice.
absolutely!

[danda]

Rothbard: A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II

http://www.amazon.com/History-Money-Banking-United-States/dp/0945466331

http://mises.org/resources/1022 ( Free PDF Download! )

[sl7yz0r]

I would refrain from using "End the Fed" as little as possible if your graduation hinges on this thesis. Try finding other academic materials and essentially go about proving the same thing that Paul did in his book, but don't seek to quote Ron Paul every other line as your "proving source". Keep in mind that most academics still view Paul's views as "kooky".

Explain your thesis. Hook them with credible academic sources that your professors will buy into. Prove your thesis with infallible logic. Then at the end be all like "Beeatch Ron Paul has been saying the same damned thing for yearzz!".

Hot Dam! Thanks for all the sources and advice guys!
The professor overlooking my thesis definitely holds a view of RP and his ideas consistent with your description.
I will be checking out all of the suggested sources and I really appreciate the assistance.
If more ideas or pieces of literature come to mind, keep em commin!

[hugolp]

Central banks as sources of finantial inestability by George Selgin: http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=774

It has a good intro on the creation of the central banks that completely dismantles the mainstream view of why central banks where created. It is a short pdf but it can be considered a scholar publication. I think that using the idea of the two first pages written in your own words is the perfect way to frame the debate about centrla banking.

I have not read Rollback yet but Thomas Woods in a recent article (http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods166.html) cites this:


It so happens that Rollback contains a chapter on the Fed that smashes to smithereens pretty much everything Yglesias has ever written about central banking. For example, the claim that the Fed has, after all, made the economy more stable and given us fewer and shallower recessions is proposed as if it were so obvious that only a blind ideologue – or a "crank" – would challenge it. But it turns out that this familiar claim relies on statistics that – unbeknownst to Matt Yglesias, you’ll be shocked to learn – have been exploded over the past two decades. Even Christina Romer, former chair of Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, has noted that these faulty figures overstate the instability that existed before the Fed and understate the instability since. The instability of output that did exist before the Fed was due almost entirely to the kind of natural output swings, as from harvest failures, that plague an agricultural society, while the instability we have seen since the Fed’s creation is attributable far more to monetary policy itself.

Also, if you post in the forums of mises.org they will be able to give you good scholar sources.

[fisharmor]

What negative effects are you going to argue? That would determine sources, too.
It seems to me that one of the biggest negative effects is that the federal reserve system helped to cement ideas like the living constitution, and subverted the rule of law.
I don't know if this is one of the arguments in the Creature from Jekyll Island, but IIRC Rothbard talks about how the whole process of bringing it about was crooked to begin with in The Case Against The Fed.

[Pistis]

"Pieces of Eight: the Monetary Powers and Disabilities of the U.S. Constitution" by Edwin Vieira

Read a full review here (http://www.gata.org/node/7536). Some excerpts:


Edwin Vieira is this country's leading scholar on legal and constitutional issues relating to money.


Encompassing over 1,600 pages and 6,000 footnotes..., "Pieces of Eight" is certainly the most outstanding product of scholarship that I have ever had the pleasure of reading.


This book's achievement is unparalleled. It will without any doubt stand throughout time as the definitive account of the descent in the United States from the sound money imparted by the Constitution to the unsound debt contract that is the inferior, unconstitutional unit of account that today passes as the dollar.

Enjoy!

[Travlyr]

"Secrets of the Federal Reserve" by Eustace Mullins is full of information and well documented.

[YumYum]

I did my senior thesis on the Fed. Here is my annotated bibliography:

Annotated Bibliography

Bernanke, B. (2009). Strengthening the Financial System. Vital Speeches of the Day, 75, 390.

A summary of the speech recently given by the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, where he said that experience over the past two years clearly demonstrates that the US needs a strategy to help prevent financial crises and to lessen the effects of crises that may occur. The roots of this crisis lie in part in the fact that regulatory powers and capacities did not adhere to the increasingly tight integration of conventional lending activities with the issuance, trading, and financing of securities. Financial stability is integral to the achievement of maximum employment and price stability, the dual mandate that Congress has conferred on the Federal Reserve as its objectives in the conduct of monetary policy. This speech gives an important current perspective from the head of the Fed, who is against any outside auditing and any public transparency.

Corder, K. (2009). PAR Symposium on the Financial Crisis: The Federal Reserve System and
the Credit Crisis. Public Administration Review, 69, 623-631.

This journal examines how the Federal Reserve System struggled to maintain order in U.S. credit markets as rapid declines in home prices led to huge write-downs in the value of mortgage-backed securities held by financial institutions. Also, this author contends that the Fed could have taken a number of steps (in the mortgage market or through broader regulatory actions) to either preempt or mitigate the impact of this market disruption. It is viewed that broader regulatory actions (in the mortgage market, of risk taking by financial institutions, or in the form of actions to limit the contagion of crisis) imply fundamental changes at the Fed. This journal is valuable in examining the current changes and their impact in The Federal Reserve.

Forsyth, R. (2009). A Quick Tightening Isn't in the Cards. Barron’s, 89, 11.

An up to date report and review on the announcement by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke last month declaring that the recession was very likely over. The conspiracy theorists immediately started speculating when the Central Bank would begin tightening monetary policy. As the credit storm gathered in 2007 and 2008, some Fed bank presidents pushed for interest-rate increases to fight the inflation chimera they saw. Because the Treasury is approaching its debt ceiling, it will let the Supplementary Financing Program bills mature. In the process, some $185 billion will be released to the banking system. There's no likelihood of the Fed tightening until the unemployment rate shows signs of coming down decisively. Indeed, the shortage of bills could shrink yields, already barely visible to the naked eye, closer to zero. A current look at how the Fed is handling the economic crisis.

Griffin, E. (2009). The Creature from Jekyll Island. Westlake Village: American Media.

This book refers to the Federal Reserve System as a “creature” and gives a detailed account of how the Fed came to be, and explores the mystery surrounding the Federal Reserve System. It explains where money comes from and where it goes in what the book describes as the “most blatant scam of history.” It explains how the Fed is responsible for wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depressions and prosperity. While they book appears to have a negative bias it will prove valuable in providing the conspirators of this financial system.

Hazlitt, H. (1979). Economics In One Lesson. New York: Crown Publishers.

One of the best books written that gives a layman the basic truths of economics, leaving out all the eco-Babel, which confuses so many novices studying economics. The information provided will provide a firm grasp of basic economic principles and the complex interrelationship of all economic factors and forces. This will prove to be a valuable reference, which defines technical terms of economics in the simplest manner.

Mankiw, N. (2009). Principles of Economics .Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning.

A college text that gives a favorable view of the Federal Reserve System, and explains economics in complicated terms. Will prove to be helpful in giving the accepted view of economics regarding buying, selling, setting prices, competing for customers, looking for jobs, earning a living, and why markets succeed and why they fail.

Paul, R. (2009). End The Fed. New York: Grand Central Publishing.

A straight forward, easy to read, expose on the Federal Reserve, which explains the reasons why this agency should be abolished. The Fed is blamed for bringing our country to the brink of economic ruin. This book combines history, economics, philosophy, and Dr. Paul’s own life experiences as an eleven-term congressman to explain how, why, and for whom the Federal Reserve has been pulling the strings of the American financial system since 1913, and what can be done about it.

Rothbard, M. (1994). The Case Against The Fed. Auburn: Ludwig von Mises Institute.

This book gives detailed information of the mechanics of the Fed and how much money is printed and where it goes. It gives the names of individuals who work in the Federal Reserve and those who work on the outside. It exposes how other agencies, even the CIA, are held accountable to Congress, and yet the Federal Reserve answers to no one. The Fed hurts the American economy and is leading us to economic collapse. This book provides an in-depth explanation as to why.

Santow, L. (2009) Do They Walk on Water? Federal Reserve Chairmen and the Fed. Westport:
Praeger Publishers.

This book examines the Fed’s chairmen and exposes them, not as geniuses, but simply as men who could and can manifest confidence while attempting to navigate an out of control ship. This book explains the inner workings of the Fed and its Open Market Operations, while analyzing each of the recent five Fed chiefs together with extensive economic data that describes their successes and failures numerically, the Fed’s recent mistakes, and policy recommendations.

Schiff, P. (2007). Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse. Hoboken:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

An eerie and extremely accurate book predicting the financial crisis that began on March 15, 2008, which came to a crisis of immense proportion in September of that same year. It explains everything that was creating the housing bubble, which was encouraged by the Fed, and why it would collapse. It predicts what will happen in the near future if drastic measures aren’t taken to correct the existing system and the way it operates. Very valuable information is provided in this book to look at how further disaster can be diverted, and if the Fed is allowed to continue, what changes it must make in its mode of operation to help turn the economy around.

Shull, B. (2005). The Fourth Branch: The Federal Reserve’s Unlikely Rise to Power and
Influence. Westport: Praeger Publishers.

A very careful study of the Federal Reserve and its history. It uncovers many of the mysteries surrounding the Fed. Shull reveals an inconsistent phenomenon by focusing on three periods of economic duress. Even though the Fed contributed to these crises, it always emerged from these calamities more powerful and influential than before. This source is valuable in providing new light on the Fed’s character and its impact on U.S. economic, political, and cultural history.

[ssantoro]

Most books by Alfred Owen Crozier.

[MikeStanart]

I did my senior thesis on the Fed. Here is my annotated bibliography:

Annotated Bibliography

Bernanke, B. (2009). Strengthening the Financial System. Vital Speeches of the Day, 75, 390.

A summary of the speech recently given by the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, where he said that experience over the past two years clearly demonstrates that the US needs a strategy to help prevent financial crises and to lessen the effects of crises that may occur. The roots of this crisis lie in part in the fact that regulatory powers and capacities did not adhere to the increasingly tight integration of conventional lending activities with the issuance, trading, and financing of securities. Financial stability is integral to the achievement of maximum employment and price stability, the dual mandate that Congress has conferred on the Federal Reserve as its objectives in the conduct of monetary policy. This speech gives an important current perspective from the head of the Fed, who is against any outside auditing and any public transparency.

Corder, K. (2009). PAR Symposium on the Financial Crisis: The Federal Reserve System and
the Credit Crisis. Public Administration Review, 69, 623-631.

This journal examines how the Federal Reserve System struggled to maintain order in U.S. credit markets as rapid declines in home prices led to huge write-downs in the value of mortgage-backed securities held by financial institutions. Also, this author contends that the Fed could have taken a number of steps (in the mortgage market or through broader regulatory actions) to either preempt or mitigate the impact of this market disruption. It is viewed that broader regulatory actions (in the mortgage market, of risk taking by financial institutions, or in the form of actions to limit the contagion of crisis) imply fundamental changes at the Fed. This journal is valuable in examining the current changes and their impact in The Federal Reserve.

Forsyth, R. (2009). A Quick Tightening Isn't in the Cards. Barron’s, 89, 11.

An up to date report and review on the announcement by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke last month declaring that the recession was very likely over. The conspiracy theorists immediately started speculating when the Central Bank would begin tightening monetary policy. As the credit storm gathered in 2007 and 2008, some Fed bank presidents pushed for interest-rate increases to fight the inflation chimera they saw. Because the Treasury is approaching its debt ceiling, it will let the Supplementary Financing Program bills mature. In the process, some $185 billion will be released to the banking system. There's no likelihood of the Fed tightening until the unemployment rate shows signs of coming down decisively. Indeed, the shortage of bills could shrink yields, already barely visible to the naked eye, closer to zero. A current look at how the Fed is handling the economic crisis.

Griffin, E. (2009). The Creature from Jekyll Island. Westlake Village: American Media.

This book refers to the Federal Reserve System as a “creature” and gives a detailed account of how the Fed came to be, and explores the mystery surrounding the Federal Reserve System. It explains where money comes from and where it goes in what the book describes as the “most blatant scam of history.” It explains how the Fed is responsible for wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depressions and prosperity. While they book appears to have a negative bias it will prove valuable in providing the conspirators of this financial system.

Hazlitt, H. (1979). Economics In One Lesson. New York: Crown Publishers.

One of the best books written that gives a layman the basic truths of economics, leaving out all the eco-Babel, which confuses so many novices studying economics. The information provided will provide a firm grasp of basic economic principles and the complex interrelationship of all economic factors and forces. This will prove to be a valuable reference, which defines technical terms of economics in the simplest manner.

Mankiw, N. (2009). Principles of Economics .Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning.

A college text that gives a favorable view of the Federal Reserve System, and explains economics in complicated terms. Will prove to be helpful in giving the accepted view of economics regarding buying, selling, setting prices, competing for customers, looking for jobs, earning a living, and why markets succeed and why they fail.

Paul, R. (2009). End The Fed. New York: Grand Central Publishing.

A straight forward, easy to read, expose on the Federal Reserve, which explains the reasons why this agency should be abolished. The Fed is blamed for bringing our country to the brink of economic ruin. This book combines history, economics, philosophy, and Dr. Paul’s own life experiences as an eleven-term congressman to explain how, why, and for whom the Federal Reserve has been pulling the strings of the American financial system since 1913, and what can be done about it.

Rothbard, M. (1994). The Case Against The Fed. Auburn: Ludwig von Mises Institute.

This book gives detailed information of the mechanics of the Fed and how much money is printed and where it goes. It gives the names of individuals who work in the Federal Reserve and those who work on the outside. It exposes how other agencies, even the CIA, are held accountable to Congress, and yet the Federal Reserve answers to no one. The Fed hurts the American economy and is leading us to economic collapse. This book provides an in-depth explanation as to why.

Santow, L. (2009) Do They Walk on Water? Federal Reserve Chairmen and the Fed. Westport:
Praeger Publishers.

This book examines the Fed’s chairmen and exposes them, not as geniuses, but simply as men who could and can manifest confidence while attempting to navigate an out of control ship. This book explains the inner workings of the Fed and its Open Market Operations, while analyzing each of the recent five Fed chiefs together with extensive economic data that describes their successes and failures numerically, the Fed’s recent mistakes, and policy recommendations.

Schiff, P. (2007). Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse. Hoboken:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

An eerie and extremely accurate book predicting the financial crisis that began on March 15, 2008, which came to a crisis of immense proportion in September of that same year. It explains everything that was creating the housing bubble, which was encouraged by the Fed, and why it would collapse. It predicts what will happen in the near future if drastic measures aren’t taken to correct the existing system and the way it operates. Very valuable information is provided in this book to look at how further disaster can be diverted, and if the Fed is allowed to continue, what changes it must make in its mode of operation to help turn the economy around.

Shull, B. (2005). The Fourth Branch: The Federal Reserve’s Unlikely Rise to Power and
Influence. Westport: Praeger Publishers.

A very careful study of the Federal Reserve and its history. It uncovers many of the mysteries surrounding the Fed. Shull reveals an inconsistent phenomenon by focusing on three periods of economic duress. Even though the Fed contributed to these crises, it always emerged from these calamities more powerful and influential than before. This source is valuable in providing new light on the Fed’s character and its impact on U.S. economic, political, and cultural history.

Gold mine.

[Imperial]

As far as academic credibility go, Hayek, Mises, and other old-school Austrians are better than Rothbard by far. There are some newer Austrian economists that have done some good work as well, although you have to be careful.


Also material from GMU and CATO could be useful.

[erowe1]

I would refrain from using "End the Fed" as little as possible if your graduation hinges on this thesis. Try finding other academic materials and essentially go about proving the same thing that Paul did in his book, but don't seek to quote Ron Paul every other line as your "proving source". Keep in mind that most academics still view Paul's views as "kooky".

Explain your thesis. Hook them with credible academic sources that your professors will buy into. Prove your thesis with infallible logic. Then at the end be all like "Beeatch Ron Paul has been saying the same damned thing for yearzz!".

I would second that. You want to use scholarly sources. End the Fed is not scholarly, nor is any book that has a title like that. You want things written by people with academic credentials and that have at least a semblance of being objective about the subject. Try not to be overly weighted with Rothbard and those who align closely to him.

I would recommend anything you can find by George Selgin. Here are a couple of his books:
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Money-Birmingham-Beginnings-1775-1821/dp/0472116312/
http://www.amazon.com/Deregulation-Monetary-Routledge-International-Studies/dp/0415140560/
I'm sure you could also find journal articles of his that would be helpful.

Judging from the reviews, this book looks like it would also be helpful, although I'm not familiar with it:
http://www.amazon.com/Competition-Currency-Essays-Banking-Institute/dp/0814792472/

You should defnitely make at least some reference to Friedman and Schwartz:
http://www.amazon.com/Monetary-History-United-States-1867-1960/dp/0691003548/
It's a very important and influential book. It will also give you a chance to correct a very common misconception that people, including economists, have about what they argued about the cause of the Great Depression. It is often thought that their argument was that there should be an activist central bank and that its fault in the Great Depression was that it didn't expand the money supply enough. That was not their argument. They did argue that it didn't expand the money supply enough, but that was in the context of the given that the Federal Reserve was already in place, which they considered a bad thing, and that a free market would not have subjected the economy to the kinds of problems that come from central management. That point is discussed in the following places:
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-great-depression-according-to-milton-friedman/
http://divisionoflabour.com/archives/2007_03.php#003603
If you talk about that, be sure to reference the article they mention by Friedman's student, Richard H. Timberlake, “The Central Banking Role of Clearinghouse Associations," JMCB Feb. 1984.

Here's another book by Friedman that looks germane:
http://www.amazon.com/Money-Mischief-Episodes-Monetary-History/dp/015661930X

[erowe1]

As far as academic credibility go, Hayek, Mises, and other old-school Austrians are better than Rothbard by far. There are some newer Austrian economists that have done some good work as well, although you have to be careful.


Some of those newer Austrians you'll find here. These are all folks outside of Rothbard's circle.
http://austrianeconomists.typepad.com/

They link to a bunch of their books on the right side of the page. I don't see any specifically about central banking. But some of the ones that try to give a general overview of Austrian economics would probably have a section on that.

[eduardo89]

I'm going to bookmark this thread for my thesis too!

[erowe1]

Boudreaux and Roberts also fit the bill. If you click their tag on the left for "monetary policy" it will bring up all the blog posts where they talk about it, including some that might have helpful bibliographic references (the blog itself shouldn't be your source, but if can point you to others).
http://cafehayek.com/

Doing that I just stumbled on these:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_710882.html
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12550

The Pittsburgh Live one includes references to books and articles you might include.

[sl7yz0r]

Wow, Yumyum I owe you a million,
You guys are awesome this will all help tremendously