The search for a balanced economy: the origins of the mortgage market and bank bailouts, 1913-1939

This dissertation describes how a movement for economic balance through finance reshaped American capitalism and American government from the Progressive Era through the New Deal. It argues that in the early 20th century, a new political movement declared it the duty of the government to keep all parts and all sectors of the economy in a grand balance with each other, most importantly by supporting cheap financing, especially of mortgages, to those parts that lagged behind. The movement began with the pleas of farmers and bankers for government-supported mortgages, and eventually spread to urban builders and lenders. By the end of the 1930s, the movement had inspired the creation of numerous semi-public enterprises, such as the Federal Land Banks and Fannie Mae, and the extension of government guarantees to supposedly private creditors and lenders. Although the dream of a balanced economy was abandoned, the government’s powers to support bankers and financiers became a lasting part of American statecraft.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Earl Ferdinand Gloc