Marcia Stigum’s *The Money Market*
Often people ask for me background reading about the financial crisis. I recommend blogs first and foremost but still people wish for a brief primer. Well, I can recommend a 1200 page primer, namely Marcia Stigum’s The Money Market, now in its fourth edition. It provides comprehensive coverage of all the major institutions in…the money market. When I used to teach monetary economics at the Ph.d. level, I made all of the students read this entire book (in an earlier and slightly shorter edition) and I quizzed them on every chapter. This was considered highly unorthodox at the time and of course 1200 pages is a lot of opportunity cost. Still, I think it was one of the better educational decisions I have made as a professor and now I view it as somewhat vindicated. The book is not perfect but it is a very good place to start. It is also useful as a source of reference.