Central Banks, Democratic States and Financial Power

When the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England purchased bank and state debt during the 2007–2008 crisis, it became apparent that, when technically divorced from fiscal policy, monetary policy cannot revive but only prevent economic activity deteriorating further. Pixley explains how conflicting social forces shape the diverse, complex relations of central banks to the money production of democracies and the immense money creation by capitalist banking. Central banks are never politically neutral and, despite unfair demands, are unable to prevent collapses to debt deflation or credit/asset inflation. They can produce debilitating depressions but not the recoveries desired in democracies and unwanted by capitalist banks or war finance logics. Drawing on economic sociology and economic histories, this book will appeal to informed readers interested in studying democracies, banks and central banking's ambivalent positions, via comparative and distributive perspectives.

Reviews & endorsements

Advance praise: 'The economic system we call capitalism, and still teach about in college courses on economic sociology, monetary macroeconomics and political economy, began in 1694 with the founding of the Bank of England. It ended 250 years later in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Down to WW1 the system seemed strong. Great Britain had been the hegemonic power for all that time. It was on life support in the last thirty years, 1914–44. Even before WW1, however, the seeds of destruction had been sown, for example, by the 'crime of '73' (1873), the demonetization of silver in the USA and the establishment of the international gold standard. This important book by Jocelyn Pixley takes us through all of that history. She also brings us up-to-date by treating, in some detail, the painful experiences of the past 75 years. The many analogies between the two periods are not coincidental.' John Smithin, Professor Emeritus of Economics and Senior Scholar, York University, Toronto

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Product details

• Publication planned for: August 2018
• format: Hardback
• isbn: 9781107122031

• dimensions: 228 x 152 mm
• contains: 4 b/w illus. 3 tables
• availability: Not yet published - available from August 2018