Banking

It's 1903, and American banks are necessary but not beloved. In this clear-eyed textbook, University of Wisconsin economist William Amasa Scott maps the American banking system at a moment of profound tension. The Federal Reserve does not exist yet. Financial panics are a fact of life. Commercial banks and investment banks operate in an unregulated wilderness, and reform is in the air. Scott outlines what banks actually do, holding money, processing payments, issuing loans, directing capital then steps back to examine the deeper questions. How does America differ from Europe in its relationship to finance? Why do Americans trust their postal system more than their banks? What would meaningful reform look like? For readers curious about where modern banking came from, this is a window into a world that resembles our own less than we might think.