By Sean Vanatta For 36 years, Joe Biden represented Delaware in the United States Senate. Critics, uncharitably, accused him of representing MBNA, a credit card issuer based in Wilmington (acquired by Bank of America in 2005). Biden’s reputation stemmed from his defense of card issuers specifically—notably through the 2005 Bankruptcy…Read More
Book reviews
Review of The Ruble: A Political History by Ekaterina Pravilova
By Alex Royt On March 8, 2022, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) decided to stop exchanging rubles for foreign currencies. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the previous month led to sanctions—including the freezing of a majority of CBR reserves— that had made the defense of the ruble’s exchange rate impossible,…Read More
Review of Banking on Slavery: Financing Southern Expansion in the Antebellum United States by Sharon Ann Murphy
By Sean Vanatta In 2005, J.P. Morgan Chase revealed that two of its predecessor banks—legacies of earlier acquisitions and reorganizations—had been complicit in financing American slavery. Together, the banks had “accepted approximately 13,000 slaves as collateral for loans,” the bank explained, “and ended up owning approximately 1,250 of them” when…Read More
Book Review: An Exchange Rate History of the United Kingdom, 1945-1992 by Alain Naef
By Max Harris Exchange rate management is once again in the headlines. The dollar is strong, inflation is rampant, and policymakers around the world are trying to get a grip. Emerging market economies have spent billions to curb depreciation. Advanced economies are feeling the heat as well. In September, Japan’s…Read More