| Congress established the Federal Reserve System in 1914. Until then, the United States did not have a national currency; Federal Reserve notes are still the paper currency in circulation today. Earlier attempts at establishing a central bank were opposed on the grounds that a central bank would give the federal government monopoly over money. This was a reflection of the historic debate between maintaining states’ rights versus establishing a strong centralized authority in the United States. That is, the creation of the Fed and a national currency would mean that states would no longer have the authority to control the money supply on a regional level. Discuss the debate between states’ rights versus centralized authority in the context of the EMU and the European Central Bank (ECB). |
