Introduction -- Part I: Modern money. What money is based on--viz., "nothing" ; Spending from nothing ; Promising from nothing ; Democracy's dollar -- Part II: The money contract. A very (very) brief history of finance--i.e., civilization ; Why money cannot be printed ; What we owe each other --...

"An essential new history of America's monetary origins. The Second Continental Congress faced multiple daunting challenges when it was convened in summer 1775. First the assembly had to create a de facto government for the loosely joined colonies that would become the United States. It then had...

"The Recession of 1937-38 is often cited as illustrating the dangers of withdrawing fiscal and monetary stimulus too early in a weak recovery. Yet our understanding of this severe downturn is incomplete: existing studies find that changes in fiscal policy were small in comparison to the...