Unsettled Account

What to do about the banks--tax them, break them up, or leave them alone--is topic number one on the financial reform agenda in the wake of the recent crisis. Understanding where to go requires first understanding how we got here. Richard Grossman's rich description of the historical life cycle of banking systems, not just in the United States but around the world, is the essential guide. If what's past is prologue, then this book should be essential reading for aspiring financial reformers. -- Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley Unsettled Account details the history of commercial banking from ancient Greece to modern times. Blending history, economics, and politics, this book provides a remarkably thorough, engaging, and readable account of how our financial institutions have developed. Extraordinarily relevant to today's troubled financial affairs, it is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand contemporary banking. -- Jeffry Frieden, Harvard University Richard Grossman has written an excellent treatise on the salient factors explaining the evolution of banking in advanced countries in the past two centuries. His comparative historical study of the banking systems of a number of important countries fills a gap in the literature which has been open for at least four decades. This book is a necessary addition to the libraries of serious scholars of financial history. -- Michael Bordo, Rutgers University Richard Grossman's history of banking is a bold and hugely successful enterprise which could not have appeared at a better time. This is an elegantly written account of the origins, role, and contribution of these institutions through all manner of circumstances. An indispensable guide. -- Forrest Capie, Bank of England This is an exciting panorama of the worldwide evolution of commercial banking during the past two hundred years. Covering a large number of countries, Grossman focuses on four major themes of banking: financial crises, resolution policies, mergers, and bank regulation. Providing a broad and pervasive view of the challenges to banking in the past and present, this is a must-read for all those interested in gaining a thorough understanding of the current problems in the financial system. -- Lars Jonung, European Commission Until now, banking history has stubbornly clung to national boundaries, comparative inquiries being rare. In this book, the author has done an excellent job of synthesizing the large and varied literature, producing a readable and accessible book. -- Joost Jonker, Utrecht University This excellent and well-organized book will be the standard reference on commercial banking history for years to come. -- Michael Bordo, Rutgers University

Commercial banks are among the oldest and most familiar financial institutions. When they work well, we hardly notice; when they do not, we rail against them. This book takes a comparative look at the development of commercial banking systems over the years in Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia.Commercial banks are among the oldest and most familiar financial institutions. When they work well, we hardly notice; when they do not, we rail against them. What are the historical forces that have shaped the modern banking system? In Unsettled Account, Richard Grossman takes the first truly comparative look at the development of commercial banking systems over the past two centuries in Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia. Grossman focuses on four major elements that have contributed to banking evolution: crises, bailouts, mergers, and regulations. He explores where banking crises come from and why certain banking systems are more resistant to crises than others, how governments and financial systems respond to crises, why merger movements suddenly take off, and what motivates governments to regulate banks. Grossman reveals that many of the same components underlying the history of banking evolution are at work today. The recent subprime mortgage crisis had its origins, like many earlier banking crises, in a boom-bust economic cycle. Grossman finds that important historical elements are also at play in modern bailouts, merger movements, and regulatory reforms. Unsettled Account is a fascinating and informative must-read for anyone who wants to understand how the modern commercial banking system came to be, where it is headed, and how its development will affect global economic growth.