Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World
by Liaquat Ahamed · Penguin Books
Pulitzer-winning history of the four central bankers whose gold-standard decisions in the 1920s helped produce the Great Depression. Gives a concrete sense of how monetary regimes, exchange-rate commitments and policy errors propagate into real economies.
This link may earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate disclosure
More resources on Monetary Policy
Economics of Money and Banking
Columbia University course that analyses the monetary system through balance sheets: the hierarchy of money, payment clearing, repo and Eurodollar markets, dealer market making, central bank crisis operations, foreign exchange and swaps. Learners can read financial crises and central bank interventions as balance-sheet events.
On the Record by Bitcoin Policy UK
The audio channel of Bitcoin Policy UK, an advocacy think tank, presenting its policy papers, consultation responses, research briefings and staff interviews. It covers UK Bitcoin regulation, central bank digital currencies and digital finance policy from a pro-Bitcoin standpoint.
Macro Musings with David Beckworth
A long-running weekly interview podcast with current and former central bankers, Fed staff and monetary economists. Episodes cover Fed operating frameworks, balance sheet policy, the Treasury market, independence and the global dollar. The full archive is free.
Economics of Money and Banking (Perry Mehrling, full lecture course)
Mehrling's Columbia/Barnard course, filmed in full. It teaches the 'money view': the central bank as clearinghouse, fed funds, repo, eurodollars, the dealer of last resort, and the 2007–09 crisis, all worked through balance sheets. Over 100 video segments, free.
Inside the Black Box: The Credit Channel of Monetary Policy Transmission
Journal of Economic Perspectives survey arguing that small policy rate changes produce large real effects because they are amplified through borrowers' balance sheets and bank lending. Sets out the balance-sheet and bank-lending channels and the empirical evidence for each.
The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets (13th Edition)
The standard university text on money, banking and central banking, by a former Federal Reserve governor. Builds the tools for the term structure, the monetary transmission mechanism, central bank strategy, inflation targeting, and policy conduct at the effective lower bound.