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American Bonds

How Credit Markets Shaped a Nation

Sarah L. Quinn

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Paperback

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English
Princeton University Press
10 August 2021
How the American government has long used financial credit programs to create economic opportunitiesFederal housing finance policy and mortgage-backed securities have gained widespread attention in recent years because of the 2008 financial crisis, but issues of government credit have been part of American life since the nation's founding. From the 1780s, when a watershed national land credit policy was established, to the postwar foundations of our current housing finance system, American Bonds examines the evolution of securitization and federal credit programs. Sarah Quinn shows that since the Westward expansion, the U.S. government has used financial markets to manage America's complex social divides, and politicians and officials across the political spectrum have turned to land sales, home ownership, and credit to provide economic opportunity without the appearance of market intervention or direct wealth redistribution.

Highly technical systems, securitization, and credit programs have been fundamental to how Americans determined what they could and should owe one another. Over time, government officials embraced credit as a political tool that allowed them to navigate an increasingly complex and fractured political system, affirming the government's role as a consequential and creative market participant. Neither intermittent nor marginal, credit programs supported the growth of powerful industries, from railroads and farms to housing and finance; have been used for disaster relief, foreign policy, and military efforts; and were promoters of amortized mortgages, lending abroad, venture capital investment, and mortgage securitization.

Illuminating America's market-heavy social policies, American Bonds illustrates how political institutions became involved in the nation's lending practices.
By:  
Imprint:   Princeton University Press
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 235mm,  Width: 156mm, 
ISBN:   9780691227078
ISBN 10:   0691227071
Series:   Princeton Studies in American Politics
Pages:   312
Publication Date:  
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Primary ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Sarah L. Quinn is associate professor of sociology at the University of Washington.

Reviews for American Bonds: How Credit Markets Shaped a Nation

""Winner of the Viviana Zelizer Award for Best Book, Economic Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association"" ""Honorable Mention for the Theory Prize, Theory Section of the American Sociological Association""


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