Write an essay on any one of the topics from the list below. 

GUIDELINES

Use at least three different sources (they may be primary or secondary).  Give full citations to the sources, not just URLs.  That is, give author, title, publisher (whose site is it), date (if given), and then URL.  Do NOT rely solely on a standard web search.  Use the "deep web" made available by Schaffer Library.  For example, use the Reference Room, and some of the online full-text databases, like Proquest or FirstSearch.   Proquest, for example, has full text of major national newspapers.  You can also look at some of the history sites I have linked on our Bibliography page, or our Links page.

Follow this basic outline:

1. Define the issue and related terms; present facts.  What happened? When? Where?  Just the facts here.

2. Discuss more subjective questions such as: Why did it happen? Whose fault is/was it?  What could/should have been done? What were the consequences?  In this section, bring out more than one point of view.  Where did major politicians or political parties stand? Was this an issue taken up by a third party?  Can you find any editorials on the subject?

3. Relate this event, and the discussion of it, to some aspect(s) of history that we have covered in this course.

Before you submit your essay, make sure it is well organized, proofread it for spelling and grammar errors, make sure your citations are complete and correct, give the essay a title, and include your names at the bottom.      

TOPIC LIST (The questions listed are suggestive only.  Subject to the guidelines above, you can take the topic in other directions, too.)

1. Hyperinflations.  Give examples from the 20th Century (or before).  Why did they happen; how were they cured?

2. The Gold Standard.  Is anyone still on it?  When did countries leave it?  Who wants to go back on it, and why?  Would it work?

3. Banking Deregulation.  The Glass-Steagall Act, passed in 1933, repealed in 1999.  Why was it passed? Why was it repealed?  Did everyone think each action was a good idea?

4. Regulation "Q".  Regulation "Q" limited the interest rates that banks could pay on deposits.  When was it passed, and why?  When was it repealed, and why?  What were the consequences?

5. Asian Financial Crisis of the 1990s.  What? When? Where? Why? So what?  How were international banks affected? US banks?  Did the Federal Reserve do anything because of the crisis?

6. Savings and Loan Crisis.  Occurred in late 1980s, into early 1990s.  Why did it happen?  Who bailed the S&Ls out?  How much did it cost?  Could it happen again?

7. Libertarian View of Money and Banking.  What is libertarianism?  Where does it fall on the political spectrum?  What are libertarian views on money and banking?  Do any of these views carry weight?  Are there any mainstream champions of these views?

8. Stagflation.  What is it.  It's most recent occurrence in the US was the 1970s and early 1980s.  Did the banking system play a role in either its cause or its cure?

9. The Great Depression.  Why did it happen? Did the Federal Reserve Bank help or hurt recovery? What lessons were learned? How did the nation's banking system change? Could it happen again?

10. Farm crisis.  Farmers seem always to be in crisis.  There is even a farm crisis web site.   Are all "farm crises" the same?  Do they involve the status of farmers as borrowers?  Do farmers routinely see monetary policy as a way out?

11. Mexican peso crisis.  In the mid-1990s Mexico had to devalue its Peso several times, and quite dramatically.  Why? What were the consequences?  Is the peso stable now?

12. Bank mergers.  Since banking deregulation, which began in the 1980s and has continued, there have been more and more mega-bank mergers.  What mergers have occurred.  What might be the consequences for government control of the nation's money supply?