Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T09:19:56.163Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

EUGENE MEYER AND THE GERMAN INFLUENCE ON THE ORIGIN OF US FEDERAL FINANCIAL RESCUES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2015

James Butkiewicz
James Butkiewicz*
Affiliation:
Economics, University of Delaware.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While federal financial rescues have become a common response to crises, the federal provision of finance was not one of the original powers of the federal government. One man, Eugene Meyer, is largely responsible for the origin of federal financial rescues, through both the War Finance Corporation and Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Meyer learned laissez-faire economics from William Graham Sumner at Yale. However, German economist Adolph Wagner’s state-socialism philosophy heavily influenced Meyer’s thinking, and Meyer developed an interventionist philosophy. Serving in key government positions, Meyer put his beliefs into practice. These channels of influence and the resulting policies are examined.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 57 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Armentano, Dominick T. 1967. The Political Economy of William Graham Sumner. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms.Google Scholar
Backhaus, Ursula. 2003. “Adolph Wagner’s Contributions to Public Health Economics.” In Backhaus, Jürgen G., ed., Evolutionary Economic Thought: European Contributions and Concepts. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, pp. 125–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balabkins, Nicholas W. 1988. Not by Theory Alone…; The Economics of Gustav von Schmoller and Its Legacy in America. Berlin: Duncker U. Humblot.Google Scholar
Bannister, Robert C. Jr. 1973. “William Graham Sumner’s Social Darwinism: A Reconsideration.” History of Political Economy 5 (Spring): 89–109.Google Scholar
Bureau of Economic Analysis. http://www.bea.doc.gov/. Accessed 18 August 2011.Google Scholar
Butkiewicz, James L. 1995. “The Impact of a Lender of Last Resort during the Great Depression: The Case of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.” Explorations in Economic History 32 (July): 197–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butkiewicz, James L. 1999. “The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the Gold Standard, and the Banking Panic of 1933.” Southern Economic Journal 66 (October): 271–293.Google Scholar
Butkiewicz, James L. 2002. “The Reconstruction Finance Corporation.” EH.Net Encyclopedia. http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/butkiewicz.finance.corp.reconstruction. Accessed 14 February 2011.Google Scholar
Butkiewicz, James L. 2008. “Governor Eugene Meyer and the Great Contraction.” Research in Economic History 26: 273–307.Google Scholar
Butkiewicz, James L., and Solcan, Mihaela. 2012. “The Original Operation Twist: The War Finance Corporation’s War Bond Purchases, 1918–1920.” University of Delaware working paper 2012–13.Google Scholar
Calomiris, Charles W., Mason, Joseph R., Weidenmier, Marc, and Bobroff, Katherine. 2012. “The Effects of Reconstruction Finance Corporation Assistance on Michigan's Banks' Survival in the 1930s” National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. NBER Working Paper 18427. Explorations in Economic History, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Carlson, Benny. 1999. “Wagner’s Legacy in America: Re-opening Farnam’s Inquiry.” Journal of the History of Economic Thought 21 (September): 289–310.Google Scholar
Clark, Evalyn A. 1940. “Adolph Wagner: From National Economist to National Socialist.” Political Science Quarterly 55 (September): 378–411.Google Scholar
Coates, A. W. 1985. “The American Economic Association and the Economics Profession.” Journal of Economic Literature XXIII (December): 1697–1727.Google Scholar
Curtis, Bruce. 1964. The Middle Class Progressivism of William Graham Sumner. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms.Google Scholar
Curtis, Bruce. 1981. William Graham Sumner. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers.Google Scholar
Dorfman, Joseph. 1949. The Economic Mind in American Civilization. Volume III, 1865–1918. New York: The Viking Press.Google Scholar
Dorfman, Joseph. 1955. “The Role of the German Historical School in American Economic Thought.” American Economic Review 45 (May): 17–28.Google Scholar
Drechsler, Wolfgang. 1997. “State Socialism and Political Philosophy.” In Backhaus, Jürgen G., ed., Essays on Social Security and Taxation, Gustav von Schmoller and Adolph Wagner Reconsidered. Marburg: Metropolis-Verlag, pp. 319–339.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry. 1992. Golden Fetters. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Milton, and Schwartz, Anna J.. 1963. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Garbade, Kenneth D. 2012. Birth of a Market: The U.S. Treasury Securities Market from the Great War to the Great Depression. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Graham, Katharine. 1997. Personal History. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Herbst, Jurgen. 1965. The German Historical School in American Scholarship: A Study in the Transfer of Culture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hofstadter, Richard. 1959. Social Darwinism in American Thought. New York: George Braziller, Inc.Google Scholar
Keehn, Richard H., and Smiley, Gene. 1988. “U.S. Bank Failures, 1932–1933: A Provisional Analysis.” Essays in Economic and Business History 6: 136–156.Google Scholar
Keehn, Richard H., and Smiley, Gene. 1993. “U.S. Bank Failures, 1932-1933: Additional Evidence on Regional Patterns, Timing, and the Role of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation” Essays in Economic and Business History 11: 131–145.Google Scholar
Leonard, Thomas C. 2009. “American Economic Reform in the Progressive Era: Its Foundational Beliefs and Their Relation to Eugenics.” History of Political Economy 41 (1): 109–141.Google Scholar
Letiche, J. M. 1955. “Discussion—Session on International Flow of Economic Ideas.” American Economic Review 45 (May): 29–34.Google Scholar
Mason, Joseph R. 2001. “Do Lender of Last Resort Policies Matter? The Effects of Reconstruction Finance Corporation Assistance to Banks During the Great Depression” Journal of Financial Services Research 20 (1): 77–95.Google Scholar
Mason, Joseph R. 2003. “The Political Economy of Reconstruction Finance Corporation Assistance during the Great Depression.” Explorations in Economic History 40 (April): 101–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, Eugene. 1923. “Agriculture and Live Stock Financing.” Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York 10: 82–95.Google Scholar
Meyer, Eugene. 1954. “From Laissez Faire with William Graham Sumner to the RFC.” Public Policy V: 3–27.Google Scholar
Meyer, Eugene. 1961. “The Reminiscences of Eugene Meyer.” Columbia University Oral History Research Office.Google Scholar
Meyer, Eugene. 1974. Papers, Library of Congress.Google Scholar
Pusey, Merlo J. 1974. Eugene Meyer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Saulnier, R. J., Halcrow, Harold G., and Jacoby, Neil H.. 1958. Federal Lending and Loan Insurance. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Schiffman, Daniel A. 2003. “Shattered Rails, Ruined Credit: Financial Fragility and Railroad Operations in the Great Depression.” Journal of Economic History 63 (September): 802–825.Google Scholar
Secretary of the Treasury. 1921. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 1920. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Secretary of the Treasury. 1959. Final Report on the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Senn, Peter R. 1997. “Problems of Determining the Influence of Gustav Schmoller and Adolph Wagner on American Fiscal Policy and Taxation Systems.” In Backhaus, Jürgen G., ed., Essays on Social Security and Taxation, Gustav von Schmoller and Adolph Wagner Reconsidered. Marburg: Metropolis-Verlag, pp. 35–141.Google Scholar
Spengler, Joseph J. 1976. “Economics: Its Direct and Indirect Impact in America, 1776–1976.” Social Science Quarterly 57 (March): 49–76.Google Scholar
Sumner, William G. 1883. What the Social Classes Owe to Each Other. New York: Harper & Brothers.Google Scholar
Sumner, William G. 1924. Selected Essays of William Graham Sumner. Edited by Keller, Albert G. and Davie., Maurice R.New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
U. S. Congress. 1932. The Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Wagner, Adolph. 1958. “Three Essays on Public Finance.” Translated by Nancy Cooke. In Musgrave, Richard A. and Peacock, Alan T., eds., Classics in Public Finance. New York: The Macmillan Company, pp. 1–15.Google Scholar
Wagner, Donald O. 1939. Social Reformers: Adam Smith to John Dewey. New York: The Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
War Finance Corporation. 1918–1939. Records of the War Finance Corporation. National Archives Record Association II. Record Group 154.Google Scholar
War Finance Corporation. 1918. First Annual Report of the War Finance Corporation. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
War Finance Corporation. 1919. Second Annual Report of the War Finance Corporation. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
War Finance Corporation. 1920. Third Annual Report of the War Finance Corporation. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
War Finance Corporation. 1926. Ninth Annual Report of the War Finance Corporation. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Willoughby, Woodbury. 1934. The Capital Issues Committee and the War Finance Corporation. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press.Google Scholar