100 books like Chinese Money in Global Context

By Niv Horesh,

Here are 100 books that Chinese Money in Global Context fans have personally recommended if you like Chinese Money in Global Context. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History

Max Gillman Author Of The Spectre of Price Inflation

From my list on Walter Bagehot’s challenge.

Why am I passionate about this?

I remember in high school going to the gas pump and filling up during the oil crisis of the 1970s. Inflation was everywhere, but I had no idea what that was. I learned something about this in college and then in Congress as a legislative aide. I remember distinctly a conversation in Congress on how we were going to pay for these huge deficits that arose out of the Reagan tax cuts, all the while when inflation was peaking at that time. I had no idea. I then spent my PhD working in monetary economics to show the effect of inflation on the economy and have not stopped yet.

Max's book list on Walter Bagehot’s challenge

Max Gillman Why did Max love this book?

Friedman, a Nobel-winning former Economics professor, writes brilliantly and playfully, and students of economics love to read him. Yet he delves into the heart of the monetary problems that have been confronted historically. This he uses to shed light on how to conduct monetary policy today.

He ranges across the whole of American history. For example, the failure of the Continental Congress’s currency occurred since it was printed to finance the Revolutionary War when there was no federal government and no federal tax revenue. This led to the new US Constitution and the ability to raise taxes, and a stable currency that was backed by gold and silver.

With the Civil War, the US Treasury printed money called “greenbacks” and suspended conversion to gold and silver during the War, but re-established convertibility in 1879 at the pre-War rate. Friedman shows how this convertibility led to prolonged, hugely damaging deflation for…

By Milton Friedman,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Money Mischief as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A lively, enlightening introduction to monetary history…from monetarism's most articulate apostle."—Kirkus Reviews"The Oliver Stone of economics" (Chicago Tribune), Nobel Prize laureate Milton Friedman makes clear once and for all that no one, from the local corner merchant to the Wall Street banker to the president of the United States, is immune from monetary economics. In Money Mischief, Friedman discusses the creation of value: from stones to feathers to gold. He outlines the central role of monetary theory and shows how it can act to ignite or deepen inflation. Through colorful historical episodes, he demonstrates the mischief that can result from…


Book cover of Rational Expectations and Inflation

Richard Burdekin Author Of China's Monetary Challenges: Past Experiences and Future Prospects

From my list on if you didn’t think money matters.

Why am I passionate about this?

Long before I studied economics, I remember being told in church that “money is the root of all evil.” Much later, when I was interviewing for my first professor-level position, I remember one of the interviewers saying, “I suppose everyone is interested in money.” We are not talking here about a fixation on accumulating money, but rather understanding the profound impact monetary policy has upon everyone in society. These readings show how pervasive the effects of bad monetary policy can be and how important it is to keep track of what is going on. Start with the first two chapters of Friedman’s Money Mischief and see if you can stop! 

Richard's book list on if you didn’t think money matters

Richard Burdekin Why did Richard love this book?

Sargent shows how the monetary excesses leading to inflation have often been connected to using money to cover government budgetary shortfalls. This is vividly illustrated in chapter 3 by the way that ending the post-World War I hyperinflations required fundamental fiscal as well as monetary reform. 

Sargent also convincingly demonstrates the power of expectations and the idea that, as government behavior changes, people’s behavior adjusts as well.

You really cannot argue with the Ancient Chinese proverb included on the first page: “The government has strategies. The people have counterstrategies.” Amidst the rich trove of historical cases, my favorite remains chapter 6’s interpretation of the interactions between President Ronald Reagan and a recalcitrant US Congress in the early 1980s as a “game of chicken.” 

By Thomas J. Sargent,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rational Expectations and Inflation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This collection of essays written by one of the founders and chief proponents of rational expectations theory is intended as a supplement for macroeconomics courses. Thomas Sargent applies rational expectations macroeconomics at an informal, non-econometric level to interpret a variety of historical and contemporary issues. Sargent uses inflation as a natural context for applying rational expectations theory. Government efforts to stop currency depreciation, alternative monetary systems and the conflict between monetary and fiscal policies are also explored.


Book cover of The Federal Reserve: A New History

Richard Burdekin Author Of China's Monetary Challenges: Past Experiences and Future Prospects

From my list on if you didn’t think money matters.

Why am I passionate about this?

Long before I studied economics, I remember being told in church that “money is the root of all evil.” Much later, when I was interviewing for my first professor-level position, I remember one of the interviewers saying, “I suppose everyone is interested in money.” We are not talking here about a fixation on accumulating money, but rather understanding the profound impact monetary policy has upon everyone in society. These readings show how pervasive the effects of bad monetary policy can be and how important it is to keep track of what is going on. Start with the first two chapters of Friedman’s Money Mischief and see if you can stop! 

Richard's book list on if you didn’t think money matters

Richard Burdekin Why did Richard love this book?

This book not only offers an authoritative account of what the Federal Reserve has been up to since its founding in 1913 but also the rationale for why they did what they did. 

One particularly telling observation is made with respect to Arthur Burns, who was the Federal Reserve Chair during 1970-1978: “Burns always attributed [inflation] to nonmonetary sources.” Paul Volcker’s actions during 1979-1987 demonstrated how the restoration of monetary stability was a sine quo non for ending the 1970s inflationary spiral. No matter how necessary the Federal Reserve’s later massive 2020 monetary expansion may have been, it was imperative that this bulge in money also be unwound. 

A worrying element, however, is that, in the midst of all this, none of today’s Federal Reserve policymakers “ever mentions money.”

By Robert L. Hetzel,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Federal Reserve as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An illuminating history of the Fed from its founding through the tumult of 2020.

In The Federal Reserve: A New History, Robert L. Hetzel draws on more than forty years of experience as an economist in the central bank to trace the influences of the Fed on the American economy. Comparing periods in which the Fed stabilized the economy to those when it did the opposite, Hetzel tells the story of a century-long pursuit of monetary rules capable of providing for economic stability.

Recast through this lens and enriched with archival materials, Hetzel's sweeping history offers a new understanding of…


Book cover of Milton Friedman: Contributions to Economics and Public Policy

Richard Burdekin Author Of China's Monetary Challenges: Past Experiences and Future Prospects

From my list on if you didn’t think money matters.

Why am I passionate about this?

Long before I studied economics, I remember being told in church that “money is the root of all evil.” Much later, when I was interviewing for my first professor-level position, I remember one of the interviewers saying, “I suppose everyone is interested in money.” We are not talking here about a fixation on accumulating money, but rather understanding the profound impact monetary policy has upon everyone in society. These readings show how pervasive the effects of bad monetary policy can be and how important it is to keep track of what is going on. Start with the first two chapters of Friedman’s Money Mischief and see if you can stop! 

Richard's book list on if you didn’t think money matters

Richard Burdekin Why did Richard love this book?

The enduring impact of Milton Friedman and his writings is ably captured in this volume.

Part II focuses on his monetary contributions and relates his writings to the policy actions of the Federal Reserve and many other recent and older episodes. Among these chapters, James Lothian offers a particularly compelling account of not only the evolution of Friedman’s work but also its impact on those around him. Eugene Lerner connects his Friedman-inspired early Civil War research to monetary developments after the global financial crisis in 2008. 

Nobel Prize winner Robert Lucas makes a particularly revealing personal observation: “Friedman has no interest at all in what side you are on. You are expected to articulate a view of the effects of policies. How will it work? Who gains? Who loses?”

By Robert A. Cord (editor), J. Daniel Hammond (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Milton Friedman as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Milton Friedman is widely regarded as one of the most influential economists of the twentieth century. Although he made many important contributions to both economic theory and policy - most clearly demonstrated by his development of and support for monetarism - he was also active in various spheres of public policy, where he more often than not pursued his championing of the free market and liberty.

This volume assesses the importance of the full range of Friedman's ideas, from his work on methodology in economics, his highly innovative consumption theory, and his extensive research on monetary economics, to his views…


Book cover of China's Cosmopolitan Empire

Victor Cunrui Xiong Author Of Heavenly Khan: A Biography of Emperor Tang Taizong

From my list on China in the Tang period.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was first exposed to Western literature when working as a teenage farm worker in the jungle of south Yunnan decades ago and have kept my interest alive ever since. As an undergraduate at Peking University, I majored in English and American language and literature before I switched to the study of Chinese archaeology and history at the graduate level. Over the last three decades and more, I have been teaching Chinese and World history and doing research on Chinese history at a US university. In addition to dozens of articles, I have published several books both in English and Chinese, all on premodern China with a focus on the Sui-Tang period.

Victor's book list on China in the Tang period

Victor Cunrui Xiong Why did Victor love this book?

The Tang dynasty is often called China’s “golden age,” a period of commercial, religious, and cultural connections from Korea and Japan to the Persian Gulf. It was a time of unsurpassed literary creativity. Lewis captures a dynamic era in which the empire reached its greatest geographical extent. And, he shows that under Chinese rule, painting, and ceramic arts flourished, women played a major role both as rulers and in the economy, and China produced its finest lyric poets (Wang Wei, Li Bo (Li Bai), and Du Fu). 

This book is a useful companion volume to my book, which is about the founding and the rise of the Tang dynasty.

By Mark Edward Lewis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked China's Cosmopolitan Empire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Tang dynasty is often called China's "golden age," a period of commercial, religious, and cultural connections from Korea and Japan to the Persian Gulf, and a time of unsurpassed literary creativity. Mark Lewis captures a dynamic era in which the empire reached its greatest geographical extent under Chinese rule, painting and ceramic arts flourished, women played a major role both as rulers and in the economy, and China produced its finest lyric poets in Wang Wei, Li Bo, and Du Fu.

The Chinese engaged in extensive trade on sea and land. Merchants from Inner Asia settled in the capital,…


Book cover of The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of t'Ang Exotics

Victor Cunrui Xiong Author Of Heavenly Khan: A Biography of Emperor Tang Taizong

From my list on China in the Tang period.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was first exposed to Western literature when working as a teenage farm worker in the jungle of south Yunnan decades ago and have kept my interest alive ever since. As an undergraduate at Peking University, I majored in English and American language and literature before I switched to the study of Chinese archaeology and history at the graduate level. Over the last three decades and more, I have been teaching Chinese and World history and doing research on Chinese history at a US university. In addition to dozens of articles, I have published several books both in English and Chinese, all on premodern China with a focus on the Sui-Tang period.

Victor's book list on China in the Tang period

Victor Cunrui Xiong Why did Victor love this book?

This book examines the exotics imported into China during the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) and depicts their influence on Chinese life. During the three centuries of Tang came into the land the natives of almost every nation of Asia, all bringing exotic wares either as gifts or as goods to be sold. Ivory, rare woods, drugs, diamonds, magicians, dancing girls—the author covers all classes of unusual imports, their places of origin, their lore, their effect on fashion, dwellings, diet, painting, sculpture, music, and poetry.

This book is for students of Tang culture and laymen interested in the same topic. Its author Edward Schafer was an eminent American sinologist.

By Edward H. Schafer,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Golden Peaches of Samarkand as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the seventh century the kingdom of Samarkand sent formal gifts of fancy yellow peaches, large as goose eggs and with a color like gold, to the Chinese court at Ch'ang-an. What kind of fruit these golden peaches really were cannot now be guessed, but they have the glamour of mystery, and they symbolize all the exotic things longed for, and unknown things hoped for, by the people of the T'ang empire. This book examines the exotics imported into China during the T'ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907), and depicts their influence on Chinese life. Into the land during the three centuries…


Book cover of Journey to the West

Victor Cunrui Xiong Author Of Heavenly Khan: A Biography of Emperor Tang Taizong

From my list on China in the Tang period.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was first exposed to Western literature when working as a teenage farm worker in the jungle of south Yunnan decades ago and have kept my interest alive ever since. As an undergraduate at Peking University, I majored in English and American language and literature before I switched to the study of Chinese archaeology and history at the graduate level. Over the last three decades and more, I have been teaching Chinese and World history and doing research on Chinese history at a US university. In addition to dozens of articles, I have published several books both in English and Chinese, all on premodern China with a focus on the Sui-Tang period.

Victor's book list on China in the Tang period

Victor Cunrui Xiong Why did Victor love this book?

One of the most popular books in the history of East Asia, this classic sixteenth century novel is a combination of adventure fiction and folk epic that mixes satire, allegory, and history into a rollicking tale. The epic journey is the one undertaken by the monk Xuanzang under the escort of the roguish Monkey, who has many encounters along the way with major and minor spirits, gods, demigods, demons, ogres, monsters, and fairies.

The monk Xuanzang was active during the reign of Tang Taizong, the protagonist of my book. Monk and emperor have many interactions in that novel.

By Cheng-En Wu, William John Francis Jenner (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Journey to the West as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The novel is an extended account of the legendary pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang who traveled to the "Western Regions", that is, India, to obtain sacred texts (sūtras) and returned after many trials and much suffering. It retains the broad outline of Xuanzang's own account, Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, but the Ming dynasty novel adds elements from folk tales and the author's invention, that is, that the Buddha gave this task to the monk and provided him with three protectors who agree to help him as an atonement for their sins. These disciples are…


Book cover of Judge Dee at Work: Eight Chinese Detective Stories

Chris Ruffle Author Of The Barter Trade

From my list on China from an angle that Westerners don’t see.

Why am I passionate about this?

My career has given me the chance to travel around China and see parts that most foreigners do not get to see. Having studied Chinese in Oxford and Taiwan, working in China for a metal trading company in the 1980s gave me a chance to travel widely around the country when access to foreigners–especially diplomats and journalists–was highly restricted. Later, I became an early investor in the domestic stock market, focusing on smaller, entrepreneurial companies, which involved a lot of travel. I have now visited nearly every province except Hainan. Planting a vineyard and building a Scottish castle in Shandong introduced me to rural China and the local Communist Party.

Chris' book list on China from an angle that Westerners don’t see

Chris Ruffle Why did Chris love this book?

This series of exciting short detective stories is set in Imperial China. Judge Dee is a kind of Chinese Sherlock Holmes who ingeniously solves a variety of crimes and mysteries.

Although the story is based over one thousand years ago, from my own experience, the description of a Tang magistrate’s workings also gives a clue as to how China is still governed at the local level.

By Robert Van Gulik,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Judge Dee at Work as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Judge Dee presided over his Imperial Chinese court with a unique brand of Confucian justice. A near-mythic figure in China, he distinguished himself as a tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger. Long after his death, accounts of his exploits were celebrated in Chinese folklore and later immortalized by Robert van Gulik in his electrifying mysteries. These lively and historically accurate tales, written by a Dutch diplomat and scholar during the 1950s and '60s and brought back into print to critical acclaim in the 1990s, have entertained a devoted following around the world. Van Gulik's Judge Dee stories often based on…


Book cover of The Lacquer Screen: A Chinese Detective Story

Yun Rou Author Of The Monk of Park Avenue: A Modern Daoist Odyssey

From my list on better understanding and appreciating China.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was born to privilege in Manhattan. A seeker from the get-go, I perpetually yearned to see below the surface of the pond and understand what lay beneath and how the world really works. Not connecting with Western philosophy, religion, or culture, I turned to the wisdom of the East at a young age. I stayed the course through decades of training in Chinese martial arts, eventually reached some understanding of them, and realized my spiritual ambitions when I was ordained a Daoist monk in China in an official government ceremony. I write about China then and now and teach meditation and tai chi around the world. 

Yun's book list on better understanding and appreciating China

Yun Rou Why did Yun love this book?

Van Gulik is a giant in the field of historical mysteries, having penned the better part of 20 novels about his favorite protagonist “Judge Dee.” Set in ancient China, the stories typically involve political intrigue, moral quandaries, and settings so evocative it is easy to just close your eyes and see yourself in a pavilion overlooking a swan-filled lake or in a lady’s bed-chamber, a scholar’s library, or an artist’s studio. These novels are mood pieces as well as whodunnits, and the immersive experiences the author offers lead me to recommend not only this title but any and all in the series. Heaven for someone like me who loves what China used to be.

By Robert Van Gulik,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lacquer Screen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Early in his career, Judge Dee visits a senior magistrate who shows him a beautiful lacquer screen on which a scene of lovers has been mysteriously altered to show the man stabbing his lover. The magistrate fears he is losing his mind and will murder his own wife. Meanwhile, a banker has inexplicably killed himself, and a lovely lady has allowed Dee's lieutenant, Chiao Tai, to believe she is a courtesan. Dee and Chiao Tai go incognito among a gang of robbers to solve this mystery, and find the leader of the robbers is more honorable than the magistrate.

"One…


Book cover of Brush of the Gods

Anna Harber Freeman Author Of Shaped by Her Hands: Potter Maria Martinez

From my list on picture books to inspire artists of any age.

Why am I passionate about this?

There is something so magical about creating art and bringing an idea to life. As a writer and an art teacher, I love watching artists of any age find their own inspiration and joy in creating. I have used these books to launch all kinds of projects, from paintings to pottery, for every age and stage of artist. I hope you will find inspiration in these pages, too!

Anna's book list on picture books to inspire artists of any age

Anna Harber Freeman Why did Anna love this book?

This is one of those books that entranced me and my students. By the last pages, we were holding our breath to see what would happen. It is full of magical realism but based on a real artist from history.

This is a lovely stand-alone book, but it is also a great introduction and inspiration for brush painting. It’s especially fun to try painting with bamboo brushes after seeing the ones depicted in the beautiful watercolor illustrations of this story.

By Lenore Look, Meilo So (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Brush of the Gods as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

This gorgeous picture book biography, according to Kirkus Reviews in a starred review, is "a cheerful introduction not only to Wu Daozi, but to the power of inspiration."

Who wants to learn calligraphy when your brush is meant for so much more? Wu Daozi (689-758), known as China's greatest painter and alive during the T'ang Dynasty, is the subject of this stunning picture book. When an old monk attempts to teach young Daozi about the ancient art of calligraphy, his brush doesn't want to cooperate. Instead of characters, Daozi's brush drips dancing peonies and flying Buddhas! Soon others are admiring…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in China, money, and the Tang dynasty?

China 640 books
Money 82 books
The Tang Dynasty 15 books