American Bankers' Association
(ABA).Organized at a meeting of bankers in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1875, the American Bankers' Association is one of the oldest national trade associations, engaged in lobbying, public ...
Bank of the United States
Between 1791 and 1811 and again from 1816 to 1836, the U.S. government created and operated a national bank that by most historical assessments met the nation's financial needs effectively. But the ...
British Americans.
British Americans (including the English, Scots, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish) began to settle North America permanently in 1607. They dominated immigration in the Colonial Era, bringing with them the ...
business cycle
Observed changes to economic conditions which move from prosperity through recession to depression and hence back to recovery and further prosperity. Also known as the economic cycle. See, for ...
depression
An extended or severe period of recession. Depressions occur infrequently. The most recent Great Depression occurred in the 1930s; prior to that they occurred in the periods 1873–96, 1844–51, and ...
Economic Regulation.
The objectives of economic regulation are usually mixed: to achieve an appropriate balance between efficiency and equity, to steer acquisitive human urges into productive channels, and to strike ...
Federal Reserve Act
(1913).The Federal Reserve Act had its origins in the Panic of 1907, when the collapse of several loosely managed trust companies sparked a general financial crisis. Depositors frightened by ...
Federal Reserve System
The US system of central banking. This consists of a Board of Governors in charge of twelve District Reserve Banks (a district here means a group of states). The Governors are appointed by the ...
gold standard
The setting of the value of a paper currency by reference to and exchangeable for gold (cf. convertibility). The USA operated a gold standard until 1971 fixed at US$35 an ounce.[...]
insurance
The use of contracts to reduce and redistribute risk. In an insurance contract, the insurer accepts a fixed payment, or premium, from the insured, and in return undertakes to make payments if certain ...
J. Pierpont Morgan
(b Hartford, Conn., 17 Apr. 1837; d Rome, 31 Mar. 1913).American financier, industrialist, and art collector. The son of a financier and head of one of the most powerful banking houses in the world, ...
John Jacob Astor
(1763–1848)US fur trader and financier. He entered the American fur trade and by 1800 had established the beginnings of a commercial empire, with chartered ships plying both the Atlantic and the ...
monetarism
An economic theory based on the view that the quantity of money is the main determinant of money incomes. This is often combined with the view that markets tend to clear, and that people form ...
monetary policy
Those instruments, such as interest rates, reserve requirements, and term controls, at the disposal of government for influencing the timing, availability, and cost of money and credit in an economy ...
multinational corporation
A form of capitalist enterprise in which the financial structure, managerial control, and integration of productive activity span national boundaries and are oriented to international (or global) ...
New Deal
The package of policies adopted in the US in the 1930s under President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) to promote economic recovery from the Great Depression. This included price stabilization ...
New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE)The oldest and largest US stock exchange. From 2007 the NYSE became part of the combined US and European exchange NYSE Euronext.http://www.nyse.com The home page of the NYSE.
Savings and Loan Debacle.
The insolvencies of hundreds of savings and loan associations (S&Ls) in the 1980s, one of the major financial disasters of American history, cost American taxpayers about $150 billion. The debacle's ...
Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC)The main government agency responsible for supervising trade in securities and takeovers in the US.
