Princeton University Press
American Default: The Untold Story of Fdr, the Supreme Court, and the Battle Over Gold
Key Metrics
- Sebastian Edwards
- Princeton University Press
- Paperback
- 9780691196046
- 9 X 6.1 X 0.9 inches
- 0.7 pounds
- Business & Economics > Economic History
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
The untold story of how FDR did the unthinkable to save the American economy
The American economy is strong in large part because nobody believes that America would ever default on its debt. Yet in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt did just that, when in a bid to pull the country out of depression, he depreciated the US dollar in relation to gold, effectively annulling all debt contracts. From FDR's order for Americans to sell the government all their gold holdings to the Supreme Court confrontation that threatened to finish the New Deal, American Default provides a compelling account of an economic and legal drama that embroiled a nation.
Author Bio
Sebastian Edwards is the Henry Ford II Professor of International Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the Co-Director of the National Bureau of Economic Research's "Africa Project" and previously served as the Chief Economist for Latin America at the World Bank.
His research interests include emerging markets, currency crises, capital markets, Latin America, monetary policy, and the Federal Reserve.
Education
- University of Chicago Ph.D. (Economics), 1981
- University of Chicago M.A. (Economics), 1978
- Universidad Catolica, Chile, Licenciado Economia, 1975, Ingeniero Comercial, 1975
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