A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961-2021

De: Alan S. Blinder

Narrado por: Todd McLaren

From the New York Times bestselling author, the fascinating story of US economic policy from Kennedy to COVID—filled with lessons for today

In this book, Alan Blinder, one of the world's most influential economists and one of the field's best writers, draws on his deep firsthand experience to provide an authoritative account of sixty years of monetary and fiscal policy in the United States. Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider's story of macroeconomic policy that hasn't been told before—one that is a pleasure to listen to, and as interesting as it is important.

Focusing on the most significant developments and long-term changes, Blinder traces the highs and lows of monetary and fiscal policy, which have by turns cooperated and clashed through many recessions and several long booms over the past six decades. From the fiscal policy of Kennedy's New Frontier to Biden's responses to the pandemic, the book takes listeners through the stagflation of the 1970s, the conquest of inflation under Jimmy Carter and Paul Volcker, the rise of Reaganomics, and the bubbles of the 2000s before bringing the story up through recent events—including the financial crisis, the Great Recession, and monetary policy during COVID-19.

©2022 Alan S. Blinder (P)2022 Ascent Audio

Many duplications in verbal text

Sentences duplicated a dozen or so times during performance, as if editor didn’t do a final check. The performance itself is excellent but the editing has this irritating flaw. Amazon should do better for the price it charges for audible books.

Thank you, Janet Yelling.

This book makes you feel like you are attending an Alan Blinder lecture! 👏👏👏👏
A great professor, economist, philosopher, government advisor, expert intellectual writer and many other accolades, made yet another great book.
No surprise there.
It’s a thorough account of the US monetary and fiscal history and a necessary read for all students and life long learners.
I really appreciated the neatly organized timeline narrative.
Blinder’s themes were more thorough and well organized than the many books, talks, interviews and movies made in the last 60plus years on the financial booms, busts, crises and events impacting the US economy.
If all my teachers/classes were taught by Alan Blinder or with the same detail, fervor and gusto, I would be a genius…. or at the very least, healthy, wealthy and wise.
Thank you.

Great and easy reading for experienced professional economists

Alan Blinder has an easy prose that reads like a comforting novel for economists like myself who have a PhD and worked at the Fed, IMF, World Bank, Hedge Fund industry, and a G20 ministry of finance. No true surprises here for us but a great overarching view on monetary and fiscal policy in the United States in the last 60 years. A must read for young economists and professors teaching US economic history (and history of macroeconomic thought).

Great!

Not meant for a general audience.
Great for econ folks wanting to listen to an extensive lit review.

Listen for Nixon's Sake

The democrat-good republican-bad bias was unexpected and a little much. Often D's policy efforts are treated as right-minded w/o need for justification, while R policies are described as one-dimensional, herd politics, and occasionally even mean-spirited. Some good food for thought, though. Narration is fantastic, particularly enjoyed quotes from Nixon :).

Great breakdown of FED policies!

You can like it or not, but you can research it for yourself if you don’t understand what is easily explained in here. Many examples that are very easy to fact check. As a fanatic of economics I love listening to people that can point out to you what the real problem with tax cuts and no real plan will lead you to a higher inflationary period.

Great history of the financial world and how the government has to respond

Decision making at the highest levels of government on how leaders addressed the economic challenges the country faced.

Content Informative, Some Errors in Performance

First, the content and organization is great. One drawback there being when the historical period ends (right before the epic battle with inflation in 2022-2023), but nothing to do about that.

The delivery though leaves something to be desired. Certain sentences repeat. And the pronunciation is wrong for sometimes basic words and sometimes finance/economics words (LIBOR was one that made me wince).

Good history but too political

The author had nothing bad to say about the Democrat presidents and congress and many negative things to say about the Republicans. The slant made it hard to listen to. He also didn't go into the wealth inequality ramifications of QE. Basically this was a fan boy history of the Keynsian policy makers of the last 60 years.

Excellent

This book is extremely well written, structured and comprehensive. I recommend for anyone interested in sharpening their mind around economics and politics.