History of Finance Capital in America; The Great Depression and Interwar Years
Go Tian Kang(Forward)
As part of my study of the history of the anti‑trust movement in America, I
had the opportunity to publish my book in Japanese in 1972 under the title of
The Rise of Finance Capital in America. That book traced the concentration
of economic power in America after the Panic of 1873, both in basic industries
headed by railroad and steel and in banking and finance represented by the
New York banks and insurance companies. I explored when, how, and why
the movements toward increasing concentration in these two separate sectors
became closely intertwined following the Panic of 1893 and led to the rise
and dominance of Wall Street financial‑industrial power, or so‑called “finance
capital”, at the turn of the century. The publication of the book inspired me
to continue my research on the subsequent development of American finance
capital after World War I.
Several remarkable studies published in the mid‑1930s present an over‑
all picture of finance capital, as represented by the leading financial‑industrial
groups that dominated the American economy in the Great Depression era
following the stock market crash. Notable among them are the 1937 book
Rulers of America, by Anna Rochester, and The Structure of the American
Economy, 1939, by the U.S. National Resources Committee (NRC). At the
same time, the valuable findings revealed in various reports of the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
between the 1930s and the 1950s shed light on the concentration of finance
and industry on the eve of WWII, giving us a better understanding of the
subject.
Go details through institutional analysis how major financial institutions (including banks and insurance companies), industries, and the U.S. government behaved and linked with each other during the Great Depression and Inter-War period.