ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the origins of financial deregulation and examines the deregulatory efforts of the Commission on Money and Credit (CMC). Established by financial executives on the Committee for Economic Development, the CMC essentially set the agenda for much of the ensuing debate over financial deregulation. The first serious attempt to reorganize the New Deal financial system came almost immediately after World War II. This early effort at deregulation was pioneered by the Committee for Economic Development (CED) and culminated in the publication of the report of the CED’s privately funded Commission on Money and Credit (CMC) in the early 1960s. The CED was founded in 1942 by top level business elites concerned with the shape of the post-war economy. Its expressed purpose was to give a business-oriented direction to the enlarged scope of government economic intervention. The CED’s roots harken back to the Great Depression.
