**Peter Conti-Brown *is the Class of 1965 Associate Professor of Financial Regulation at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a nonresident fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of The Power and Independence of the Federal Reserve and the coaut...

**Peter Conti-Brown *is the Class of 1965 Associate Professor of Financial Regulation at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a nonresident fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of The Power and Independence of the Federal Reserve and the coauthor of The Law of Financial Institutions . Sean H. Vanattais senior lecturer in financial history and policy at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of Plastic Capitalism: Banks, Credit Cards, and the End of Financial Control *.