Available Formats
The Myth of Independence: How Congress Governs the Federal Reserve
By (Author) Sarah Binder
By (author) Mark Spindel
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press
13th November 2017
United States
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Central / national / federal government policies
Political economy
Politics and government
History of the Americas
Economic history
332.110973
Hardback
296
Width 152mm, Height 235mm
595g
Born out of crisis a century ago, the Federal Reserve has become the most powerful macroeconomic policymaker and financial regulator in the world. The Myth of Independence traces the Fed's transformation from a weak, secretive, and decentralized institution in 1913 to a remarkably transparent central bank a century later. Offering a unique account
"Finalist for the 31st D.B. Hardeman Prize, LBJ Foundation"
"Winner of the 2018 Gladys M. Kammerer Award, American Political Science Association"
"Winner of the 2018 Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize, Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association"
"One of Project Syndicates Best Reads in 2017 (chosen by Koichi Hamada)"
"Even for readers who get through the day without thinking about monetary policy, Ms. Binder and Mr. Spindel offer compelling insights. . . . [An] impressively researched and often riveting study."---Roger Lowenstein, Wall Street Journal
"Binder and Spindel have written an extremely thorough study of the Federal Reserve that shows how the institution, while in theory insulated from politics, is in reality anything but. Binder and Spindel persuasively argue that Congress and the Federal Reserve are interdependent entities. . . . Throughout, fascinating graphics depict the interrelationship between the Fed and congressional politics: one chart links the number of bills introduced to govern Fed policy with the unemployment rate. Binder and Spindel convincingly dispel the myth' of the Feds independence as one of the Capitols urban legends." * Publishers Weekly *
"The Myth of Independence is a timely analysis of political and economic countervailing forces that render the Fed and Congress interdependent."---Joseph M. Santos, EH.net
Sarah Binder is professor of political science at George Washington University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her books include Advice and Dissent and Stalemate. Mark Spindel has spent his entire career in investment management at such organizations as Salomon Brothers, the World Bank, and Potomac River Capital, a Washington D.C.-based hedge fund he started in 2007.