Description
Book SynopsisAn essential origin story of modern society's most influential economic doctrine. The Chicago School of economic thought has been subject to endless generalizationsand mischaracterizationsin contemporary debate. What is often portrayed as a monolithic obsession with markets is, in fact, a nuanced set of economic theories born from decades of research and debate. The Monetarists is a deeply researched history of the monetary policiesand personalitiesthat codified the Chicago School of monetary thought from the 1930s through the 1960s. These policies can be characterized broadly as monetarism: the belief that prices and interest rates can be kept stable by controlling the amount of money in circulation. As economist George S. Tavlas makes clear, these ideas were more than just the legacy of Milton Friedman; they were a tradition in theory brought forth by a crucible of minds and debates throughout campus. Through unprecedented mining of archival material, The Monetarists offers the fi
Trade Review"[
The Monetarists] should be of keenest interest to historians of economic thought and to monetary historians, for whom the careful detail, thorough citations of primary sources, and attention to the work of even the less commonly celebrated Chicagoans, will be most appreciated." * Journal of Economic Literature *
"You may wonder whether reading a book about a 50-year old academic dispute is worth it. Well, the book amply repays the effort. . . .Tavlas's book is interesting and illuminating throughout and warmly recommended." * Financial World *
“George Tavlas provides a fascinating, fresh, and highly policy-relevant look at the monetary tradition at the University of Chicago over three crucial decades. He uses facts and draws on unpublished sources to challenge well-known economic interpretations, focus on key monetary policy proposals, show that monetarism is dynamic, and demonstrate how Milton Friedman did not invent monetarism, but rather developed it out of a beautiful Chicago tradition.” -- John B. Taylor | Stanford University
"This book presents a fascinating and well-documented discussion of the origins and development of the economics of monetarism and its roots in Chicago economics. Tavlas dissects the tangled history of monetarist ideas and their origins as solutions to policy problems predating even the Great Depression. A rich account of the development of central ideas and the role of many economists in forming monetarist thought, this is an important study of a body of ideas that shaped, and continue to shape, the field of economics." -- James Heckman | recipient of the 2000 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics | University of Chicago
“In this pathbreaking book, George Tavlas lays out the history of the Chicago monetary tradition from the classical economists to Frank Knight, Jacob Viner, Paul Douglas, Henry Simons and Lloyd Mints to Milton Friedman. This book sets the record straight on all the debates that have raged on the subject. It will set the standard for research on the key deep origins of modern monetary policy.” -- Michael Bordo | Rutgers University
“Tavlas provides a fascinating intellectual history of the monetarist tradition at the University of Chicago. It successfully debunks some prior simplistic characterizations and instead offers a deep probe with nuances and complexities along with some common threads of thought. Within this backdrop, Milton Friedman’s contributions to monetary economics are seen to have both emerged from and modified the perspectives of his intellectual predecessors." -- Lars Peter Hansen | recipient of the 2013 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics | University of Chicago
“Determined scholar George Tavlas unearths the secrets of how the Chicago School molded Milton Friedman’s thinking, bringing free markets and monetarism to prominence in world affairs. His story is a must-read for understanding history.” -- William L. Silber | New York University
Table of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. The Light in the Secret Shrine
Chapter 2. The Group
Chapter 3. Controversies
Chapter 4. The “Chicago Plan”: Doctrinal Aspects
Chapter 5. Into the Academic Wilderness
Chapter 6. The Resistance
Chapter 7. The Counterattack
Chapter 8. The Monetarists
Chapter 9. Summary and Conclusions
Notes
References
Index
