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Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History | 
 enlarge | Author: Milton Friedman
Publisher: Harvest/HBJ Book
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $8.17
You Save: $5.83 (42%)
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 18556
Media: Paperback
Pages: 286
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 015661930X
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.4
EAN: 9780156619301
ASIN: 015661930X
Publication Date: March 1994
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Product Description
Friedman makes clear once and for all that no one is immune from monetary economics-that is, from the effects of its theory and its practices. He demonstrates through historical events the mischief that can result from misunderstanding the monetary system. Index.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Neither the Govt. nor the Central bank controls the money supply.The private commercial banking industry controls the money July 8, 2008
Michael Emmett Brady (Bellflower, California ,United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I will concentrate this review of Friedman's book on the the time period 1900 onward and cover Friedman's analysis in this book as it applies to the banking system set up in 1913 by the Federal Reserve Act.Friedman has an excellent discussion of the problems resulting from the attempt to introduce a bimetallic standard in the USA that occurred in the late 1870's and culminated in the 1896 election between William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley that resulted in the defeat for bimetallism.He has a number of other interesting discussions on other episodes involving attempts to inflate the money supply,however defined.However,it is in his discussions of post 1913 monetary policy that he gives a misleading impression about the central bank's powers .The Federal Reserve System(FRS),consisting of the 12 Federal Reserve District Banks of which the New York Federal Reserve District Bank has by far the most power ,is not a government agency in the usual sense of the word.THe Federal Reserve Board chairman is not a member of the President's cabinet.The United States government has only partial control the FRS.The FRS is subject to no government audit.The FRS is subject to no government budget constraint.The FRS is a quasi public,quasi private entity.The set up of the FRS,both in 1913 and 2008, reflects the tremendous economic and political power of the private profit maximizing(sometimes sales maximizing)commercial banking industry.Time and again in this book(as opposed to his coauthored 1963 Monetary History of the United States,1867-1960)Friedman gives the misleading impression that the government of the United States controls the money supply(as defined by Friedman, which is M1 or M1A)or the FRS controls the money supply.This is very misleading.The Federal Reserve System controls ONLY the monetary base.This is defined as the amount of notes(Federal Reserve issued currency)in circulation,plus vault cash,plus the FRS mandated bank reserves,based on a reserve requirement that all member banks must meet.The FRS can impact the amount of reserves available by open market operations but can't force the banks to make the additional loans if the banks do not want to use the expanded reserves.The banks can refuse to make use of the added reserves and hold them ,for safety first or precautionary reasons,as excess or free reserves.This is precisely what happened in the United States in the 1930-1934 period ,in Japan in the 1994-2003 period,and what has been happening in the 2007-2008 period.Ben Bernanke,in his desire to bail out Wall Street and the private commercial banking system ,has made hundreds of billions of additional loans available at special very low interest rates to the banking system.No additional private commercial bank loans have been forthcoming.The money supply increases or decreases as the private commercial banking system decides to expand loans or decrease loans according to their own private decision making calculus based on profit(sales) maximizing criteria.If commercial banks do not wish to lend then it makes no difference what the FRS does with respect to the monetary base.It can expand the base all it wants to.Nothing will happen unless,as J M Keynes so aptly put it,confidence is restored to the economic system as a whole so that expectations,a function of Keynesian uncertainty and not Friedmanite risk(Friedman always used the standard deviation of a hypothesized normal probability distribution to denote risk), of the future become optimistic.
 Review for a Nobel Prize winner... June 12, 2008
Oliver Shank (Ithaca, NY USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Review by a non Nobel Prize winner:
Dirty details of the progress of our United States Currency are the theme of this book. If you like the arithmetic to pop out as you look at text, and are one who likes absorbing and detailed accounts which provide tools for thought, you should like this collection of papers and essays on money. I did.
Very interesting May 4, 2008
C. Lugo
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Milton Friedman is simply the best. So far I've read a couple of chapters and already am extremely enlightened.
Excellent December 26, 2007
D. Star (Milwaukee, WI)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Milton Friedman is a great teacher because he has the rare ability to explain complicated subjects in clear understandable language. This book in particular will give the reader insight into the mysterious world of money. At the end you will understand money so well that when you watch CNBC you will start questioning the actions of the Federal Reserve. I highly recommend this book. Also, be sure to youtube and charlierose 'Milton Friendman' for some great videos. We have lost a great human. R.I.P.
Best explanation of what money really is and how it works December 5, 2007
Ori Eyal (New York, NY, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Milton Friedman is best known for his 2 monumental books: "Capitalism and Freedom" and "Free to Choose". Money Mischief is less well known, but equally great.
Friedman provides a fascinating and easy to understand explanation of what "money" really is and how it works (or fails to work) in society. In addition to bills and coins, money can take the form of gold, cigarettes, or even large rocks. If this seems strange to you, read the book for a clear explanation. This book also provides the clearest explanation I have ever seen about the complex connection between money supply, growth, and inflation in an economy.
Complete with fascinating real world case studies, I found Money Mischief impossible to put down.
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