A new book makes the case for putting money supply at the center of the U.S. economy and re-empowering commercial banks

A line graph with illustrated hands pointing down and up (Credit: Eugene Mymrin—Getty Images)

In the path-breaking book “Making Money Work,” a pair of leading economists present a manifesto for fixing the financial regime that took America on a careening post-COVID ride through rampant inflation, ballooning values of homes and stocks, and spiking income inequality. 

In a rush to reverse course and tame prices, the pair argues, a clueless Fed clamped down much too hard, and doesn’t even know it. To make matters worse, heavy-handed regulation has hamstrung the commercial banking system, slowing the flow of credit just as the central bank’s throttling back. The upshot: These dual, wrongheaded policies are already saddling the U.S. with tepid growth, and could easily trigger an unnecessary, self-inflicted recession.