Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-291) and index.

The institutional foundations of financial politics in the US -- Developing state capacity for the conduct of American finance -- Creating increasingly complex financial products -- Making financial policy in Congress -- Making financial policy in the Executive branch and the Federal bureaucracy -- Making financial policy in the Federal Reserve system -- The process in motion: political institutions, money, and the business cycle -- The process approaches collapse: politics in the financial crisis of 2008 -- The process in its international context: politics in international institutions -- Governing the us financial system.

avelle argues that political sources of instability in finance derive from the intersection of market innovation and regulatory arbitrage. This book explores monetary, fiscal and regulatory policies within a political culture characterized by the separation of business and state, and mistrust of power concentration in one political or economic institution.