Stephen Mihm

Do you remember the last time you used cash? The process was probably pretty automatic. You wanted to buy something, you handed the money over to the cashier, maybe got change back, and then walked out of the store. Nothing about the transaction raised alarms, you never doubted the money in your hands.

Yet in Stephen Mihm's A Nation of Counterfeiters, it is clear that wasn't the case in the early part of the 19th century. In a rough and tumble nation, with no central currency and hundreds of state chartered banks, the profession of counterfeiting flourished from the borders of Vermont to the Mississippi River Valley of Ohio. Counterfeiting intertwined with the growing capitalist economy of a new nation, both destabilizing the currency while also meeting a growing demand for paper bills. It wasn't until the Civil War threatened to tear the nation apart that the idea of a federally backed currency took hold and became a source of national pride and trust.

Mihm discusses how counterfeiting operated within the early economy of the United States. Focusing on specific counterfeiters, as well as anti-counterfeiting detectors, Mihm demonstrates how counterfeiting mimicked many of the thoughts and practices of "legitimate" capitalist businesses. Americans had little faith in their banking system, with many banks issuing notes beyond the amount of capital in their vaults. How is that different from producing counterfeit bills? It becomes clear in A Nation of Counterfeiters, that if there was a difference, it was fairly negligible.

I should confess that I took a class with Dr. Mihm when I was an undergrad at UGA and he quickly became a favorite professor of mine. He writes clearly and very engagingly, with more of a narrative tone than most histories. While initially doubtful that I would enjoy history from an economic viewpoint, he quickly persuaded me to his way of thinking. If you have any interest in early American history, A Nation of Counterfeiters is a good introduction to a colorful part of our nation's economic history.… (més)

Cri­sis Eco­nom­ics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm is a non-fiction finan­cial book.

I thought Cri­sis Eco­nom­ics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm was a very inter­est­ing book, offer­ing solu­tions to a sta­bi­lize the finan­cial sys­tem. Even though the book might no longer be as rel­e­vant as it was when it was writ­ten, it is still fascinating.

The book gives a good overview of cap­i­tal­ism from the point of view of the cri­sis that hap­pens every once in a while, before and after reforms. The authors give a clear look about the cri­sis of 2008 and what got us into it, as well as what long-term improve­ments should be done.

The authors go on to give some good, solid advice which is likely never to be imple­mented. Much of the pro­pos­als are polit­i­cally poi­so­nous (let­ting the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010), or will not gain sup­port in gov­ern­ment and espe­cially with the finan­cial industry.

The book ends with a gloomy look into the future – some of it seems to be com­ing true these days (China start­ing to fall, Europe is on finan­cial brink). A very inter­est­ing book for those who want to an overview of the finan­cial cri­sis with­out going into too much detail or more com­plex reading.

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