Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance

Without independence, the central bank will constantly be forced to succumb to political influence—for example, inflationary finance, where the central bank prints money to soak up government debt, without worrying about the effect on inflation. The European debt crisis of 2010–2012, when Greece defaulted on its debt, and Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal were forced to the brink, was a huge confidence setback, a near extinction-level event. Although debt-financed stimulus spending is certainly warranted in a deep recession, was it really the only idea for digging out of the global financial crisis, which had its roots in defaults by low-income subprime debt holders? See especially chapter 10, “The Scent of Money.” Another beautifully written and important book that does not fall into the same trap is Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World (New York: Penguin, 2008).