Lords of finance
the bankers who broke the world
by Liaquat Ahamed · first published 2009
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Pulitzer-winning account of the interwar central bankers of the US, Britain, France and Germany, showing how their choices shaped the Great Depression. Suits readers curious about central banks and gold.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
With penetrating insights for today, this vital history of the world economic collapse of the late 1920s offers unforgettable portraits of the four men whose personal and professional actions as heads of their respective central banks changed the course of the twentieth centuryIt is commonly believed that the Great Depression that began in 1929 resulted from a confluence of events beyond any one person's or government's control. In fact, as Liaquat Ahamed reveals, it was the decisions taken by a small number of central bankers that were the primary cause of the economic meltdown, the effects o
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Book recommendation: Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed. It is more interesting than the title, I think. It covers WW I, great depression, and the beginning of WW II, with a focus on monetary policy (gold…
on “I'm reading the FT and WSJ from 100 years ago each week leading to 1929” ↗> Lords of Finance Oh, yes, great book! And good read. Two things stuck in my mind: A) How slow things were back then. The British finance minister (“Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of Her Majesty's Exchequer”) would…
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations for understanding financial systems?” ↗…Transformation provide one popular theory as to why it collapsed around World War 1, from a cultural anthropology perspective. http://uncharted.org/frownland/books/Polanyi/POLANYI%20KARL%... Liaquat Ahamed's _Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke The World_ provides another congruent account, from a more detailed historical/economic perspective, as to why gold was abandoned. http://www.amazon.com/Lords-Finance-Bankers-Broke-World/dp/0...
on “Thoughts on Bitcoin” ↗…lot of the prior gains from the depression (the US government had a budget surplus!). WW2 spending was what wound up being the stimulus that dragged the world out of the recession. Liaquat Ahamed's _Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World_ goes into great detail as to why the great depression occurred (the Gold standard), and why it lingered. I also think you may want to read more into Japan's economic…
on “Bitcoins: The Second Biggest Ponzi Scheme in History” ↗…(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN73B9E) ...but in the first few pages he referenced that HE was recently reading a different book, which sounded more interesting, so now I'm reading that: Liaquat Ahamed - Lords of Finance (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QIGZEK) ...so far so good; if you're into historical stuff.
on “Ask HN: What is HN reading?” ↗…Greene. Some of Malcolm Gladwell's books are interesting although they are a tad popsci. Recently finished Zero to One which was good, but if you listen to Thiel often there wasn't much new material. Lords of Finance is a NYTBS that is really well done and reminiscent of Taleb so you might like that. Thanks.
on “Malware and Hacking Forum Darkode Is Shut Down; Dozens Arrested” ↗Similarly, Liaquat Ahamed's Lords of Finance is a great read about finances from World War I to the Great Depression.
on “The extraordinary story of Britain’s efforts to finance the First World War” ↗Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World https://www.amazon.com/Lords-Finance-Bankers-Broke-World/dp/...
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations for understanding financial systems?” ↗I’m not the OP, but there’s a whole book on the topic. Fascinating read if you ever get the chance. A Keystone Cops level of professionalism displayed by the central bankers at the time. Lords of Finance - https://www.amazon.com/Lords-Finance-Bankers-Broke-World/dp/...
on “What Happens to Stocks and Cryptocurrencies When the Fed Stops Raining Money?” ↗The most interesting biography I've read is "Lords of Finance" by Liaquat Ahamed, a biography of the four men who headed the New York Fed and the English, French and German central banks in the period between WWI and WWII. While you could argue it is a little light…
on “Ask HN: Recommend a biography?” ↗…sinking ship, but do it slowly so as to not accelerate the sinking before you can get it all out. Re: the gold situation after WWI, if you're interested I encourage you to read Liaquat Ahamed's excellent Lords of Finance, which won the Pulitzer, IIRC.
on “Why are European countries moving their gold out of North America?” ↗…ongoing process; quantifying it at a fixed point in time is less meaningful than we intuitively believe. But don't take my word for any of this. One of the most enlightening books I've ever read is "Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World", which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. I read it in 2010, shortly before I read The Big Short, because of the accolades and because I wanted some context to the economic…
on “A decade after the crisis, The Fed plans to shrink its bond holdings” ↗…eye-openers for me. Also, I found an interesting synergy between Nassim's books and the book 'Thinking fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman (which is a book about human psychology). Also, I enjoyed reading 'Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World'. I don't read much fiction but it can be interesting sometimes. I read 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley many years ago and it's a book that appears to be becoming…
on “How can we develop transformative tools for thought?” ↗If you’re interested in fiat currency and the fed, I highly recommend the book Lords of Finance. The author does a really good job of showing just what central banks do and how their responses to economic events shape outcomes. The book entirely focuses on the Great Depression and the central banks…
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations for understanding financial systems?” ↗> the gold standard, for example, contributed in some ways to The Great Depression Most people don’t realize this. A great book on the topic is Lords of Finance which outlines how the gold standard made the Great Depression truly great. Even during covid, I don’t think people realize just how fundamentally important Fed actions were to basic things like keeping…
on “New study detects lottery-like behavior in cryptocurrency markets” ↗