“Financial and technological shocks have brought central banks under intense legal and popular scrutiny. Against this background, Bateman’s counter-narrative of central bank independence poses a challenge to theorists, practitioners, and citizens. His rich account of the Federal Reserve’s fiscal history is a reminder that ‘fiscal’ and ‘monetary’ are legal and analytical, not natural, categories, that they serve social and political purposes, and that these purposes change over time.”

Anna Gelpern, Georgetown University Law Center

“A revelatory counter-history of the central bank and its independence. The Fiscal Fed is essential.”

Éric Monnet, author of "Balance of Power: Central Banks and the Fate of Democracies"

“The Fiscal Fed is a major contribution to the literature on central banking, public finance, and monetary governance. Bateman moves with impressive ease across legal doctrine, financial-market mechanics, economic theory, and archival history, producing a narrative that is both richly documented and genuinely interdisciplinary. This work is also incredibly timely, arriving as questions about the role of central banks, sovereign debt markets, crisis finance, and democratic accountability have returned to the center of academic and public discussion.”

Saule T. Omarova, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School