Anna Schwartz has died.
I think most of you are probably aware of Bernanke's remark over a deade ago about A Monetary History, that it was "the leading and most persuasive explanation of the worst economic disaster in American history". It's really quite a statement if you think about it. How many books out there that take as their subject a century's expanse of time also manage to be "the leading and most persuasive explanation" of a three year period that occurs during that century?
Granted, The Great Contraction is not just any three year period. It clearly stands out in the century they covered. But that's still saying something, because as anyone familiar with the book knows, it really is a history of the entire century - and it has a great deal to say about monetary economics on top of being a history. It really is quite an accomplishment.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
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To answer your obviously rhetorical question, Daniel Kuehn...not many books would fit that category.
ReplyDeleteWhile I see the doctrine of monetarism as a special case of J.M. Keynes's General Theory, I do respect Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz for their contributions to scholarship.
May Anna Schwartz rest in peace.