Limitless
Limitless is a timely and insightful primer on one of America’s most powerful and least understood institutions. In Limitless, Jeanna Smialek, the Federal Reserve correspondent for the New York Times, tells the inside story of the Fed's deeply impactful transformation and what it means for ordinary Americans. Smialek discusses the Fed's inner workings during a crucial inflection point of history, providing a detailed account of efforts by the Fed to avoid economic collapse during the Covid-19 lockdowns instituted in March 2020. Limitless dramatically describes the pandemic’s financial chaos and provides lucid sketches of Fed history, analyses of financial markets, and explorations of the impact of Fed policy on everything from wealth inequality to climate change.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
”In the thick of the inflation battle, it is tempting to emphasise the Fed’s missteps. Limitless is a useful corrective. [Smialek] provides a bracing account of just how badly things could have turned out when covid shutdowns led millions to lose their jobs overnight...”
”As well as being a fascinating read, the book is an invaluable guide to the monetary policy debates of the last few years.”
—Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lords of Finance
”In this engaging and highly-readable-book, Jeanna Smialek provides penetrating insights on a matter that affects us all: the Federal Reserve’s evolution in the face of a fluid global economy, fragile finance, and a changing America. Through the eyes of Marriner Eccles, a giant in Fed history, Smialek reminds us that central banking rests on a delicate mix of historical foundation and continuous experimentation.”
—Mohamed A. El-Erian, President of Queens’ College, Cambridge University and best-selling author of The Only Game in Town
”The book highlights the enormous power of the Fed to promote the flow of credit in troubled times—but is also a warning about the risks of this power in an era when political leaders are increasingly tempted to apply pressure to central banks’ policy choices.”
—Karen Dynan, professor at Harvard University and former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury
"A wide-ranging study of the Federal Reserve and its almost unrestricted power over the U.S. economy...Smialek’s detailed, cogent account...illustrates how the bankers and economists who run the Fed are quick to abandon ideology and theory for practical solutions to the problems they face...Accessible prose...The best book on the Fed in our time and a model of financial writing."
—Kirkus, starred review
"Smialek dramatically describes the pandemic’s financial chaos...and provides lucid sketches of Fed history, analyses of financial markets, and explorations of the impact of Fed policy on everything from wealth inequality to climate change. The result is a timely and insightful primer on one of America’s most powerful and least understood institutions."
—Publishers Weekly