"Michael D. Bordo argues for the importance of monetary stability and monetary rules, offering theoretical, empirical, and historical perspectives to support his case. He shows how the pursuit of stable monetary policy guided by central banks following rule-like behavior produces low and stable...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- One. Lombard Street, Old and New -- Two. Origins of the Present System -- Three. The Age of Management -- Four. The Art of the Swap -- Five. What Do Dealers Do? -- Six. Learning from the Crisis -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References --...

The past two decades have seen the construction of a tiered system of international liquidity provision, the first tier including those whose credit is sufficient for a swap line with the Fed, the second tier including those who can offer acceptable collateral to the Fed, and the third tier...