| John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) was one of the most important financiers of the United States from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Relying on his superb financing capacity, he helped the United States to defuse crisis for several times, and played an indelible role in the economic development of the United States. By using three cases, this dissertation discusses intervention and management conducted by Morgan to the United States. This dissertation is composed of five parts.In the Introduction, the studies on Morgan, which are conducted by the scholars at home and abroad, are summarized. Through the analysis on the works by the previous scholars, the shortages of these studies are pointed out: the historical status of Morgan has not been analyzed and criticized on a deep level, either his economic behaviors and their effects have not been introduced systemically and detailedly in the domestic studies; The studies abroad on Morgan has not made analogy and summarization of a series of economic behaviors of Morgan. Therefore, it always seems that Morgan's historical status has not been evaluated objectively and deeply.The author believes that, as the rapid development of the US economy, it has been gradually proved that the laissez-faire type of economic management is not consistent with the trend of history. Economy needs to be managed. Although it is difficult for the capitalism government to put economic management into practice, the big capitalists such as Morgan will implement this function. Although Morgan was a business tycoon whose purpose was to pursue profit, he knew well that his career and cause rooted into the prosperity of the U.S. economy and social stability. Under the circumstance that the government control the economy loosely during that time, Morgan consciously undertook the great responsibility of stabilizing economy and enhancing the credit of the U.S. He took up the functions of central bank: providing loans to the commercial banks; providing the necessary funds to the government; on behalf of the US government, to establish financial business relations with the foreign countries; and to a certain extent, supervising and managing national financial market activities. He acted as another adjustment hand that is distinct from both the visible hand, the government and the invisible hand, the market.In the first chapter,"the Transformation of the U.S. Economy and the Rise of Morgan Family", it is introduced that during the last decades of the 19th century, the U.S. economy was benefited by the technological innovation in the second industrial revolution: the rapid industrialization, the continuous improvement of the agricultural mechanization level, Commercialization of agricultural production. Caused by the rapid propulsion of industrialization, the cities had mushroomed all over the United States. The economic market relations continued to expand, the relationships between various industries and between various sections becoming more complicated, the financial credit business also developing fast. The rapid economic development desiderated the national management on the macroeconomic level. However, the U.S. government was still under the constraint of"small government", the convention in the early 19th century. The Morgan family raising in the middle and late 19th century, based on good faith, became a leader of Wall Street.In the Chapter Two,"in 1869 Reorganization of the Railway System", the situation of railway development in the United States in the 1860s is introduced. During that time, the United States built thousands of miles railway, creating the most colossal railway system and exploiting huge domestic market. However, the tremendous economic interests brought by building railway stirred up the climax of vying with each other to invest on building railway. Therefore, a large number of redundant and poor-quality railway constructions were produced. The booming supply and demand caused oversupply, and the oversupply brought the brutal competition for survival.Albany Sashikuihana (hereinafter referred to AS), the short-distance railway became the target that two huge railway corporations competed for, from forcing prices of stocks down to legal arguments, escalating until farce and force. Through trusting this railway, legal arbitration and other means, Morgan resolved the dispute of A-S railway successfully, making them withdraw from competition. Unity of the railway industry and orderly competition was promoted, and the efficiency of the railway system was improved.In the Chapter Three,"in 1985 Defending War for Dollars", it is described that, in the early 1990s, the United States had maintained a monetary deficit. Foreign investors were worried about the U.S. would increase the demand of devaluated currencies, so they sold out a large number of the U.S. securities, resulting in a massive outflow of gold from the United States. In the critical moment, by his personal credibility, Morgan sold bonds to Europe and public for obtaining fund to buy gold , then he sold gold to the U.S. government to maintain the gold reserves. Meanwhile, he intervened foreign exchange and restored the credibility of the United State in the international trade and the public confidence as well.In the Chapter Four,"in 1907 the Salvation of Panic", the financial panic that broke out in the United States in 1907 is introduced in detail, which was due to many reasons, such as that the worldwide gold output were not able to keep up with the industrial growth rate, that the war expended western cash reserves, that the foreign governments raised interest rate, that there was no central bank in the United States to adjust the balance of supply and demand and so on. Morgan led many powerful bankers of the Wall Street to save the trust companies which faced the trouble of imminent insolvency, supporting them with a large amount of cash; to lend money to the Bank of New York, filling the loopholes of the banking system with cash. Therefore, the reputation of New York Government was protected; preventive measures were taken; the financial market was stabilized; the public panic was subsided; eventually, the crisis was controlled.In the Conclusion, the whole dissertation is summarized and an objective evaluation is given to Morgan for his intervention and management on economy of the United States. By his superb financing capacity and his clear understanding on the national economic development, Morgan played an important role in stabilizing the United States Economy, through integrating the railway resources and saving dollar crisis in order to control the panic in 1907. After all, Morgan was merely a big capitalist and the United States could not put all the hopes of economic stability and the future of development onto one individual person. At the critical moment, Morgan rescued the U.S. economy from the brink of collapse, but he could not afford the fiduciary responsibility of the United States economy. His greatest contribution is to make a nation which was superstitious to laissez-faire realized the importance of intervention and management. |
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