Monetary Authorities

“Monetary Authorities is a stringent, riveting account of the important role of currency controls in the expansion of US imperial rule and racial capitalism. Allan E. S. Lumba’s work incisively details how currency stabilization, economic security, financial regulation, and fiscal discipline are key normative instruments of racial subjugation, political pacification, and counter-decolonization. A crucial, powerful intervention reminding us of the politics of everyday transactions at the level of small change.” - Neferti X. M. Tadiar, author of Remaindered Life

“In this innovative and outstanding book, Allan E. S. Lumba tells a dynamic story of the transformation of ideas and practices concerning the organization of the Philippine monetary system in the long transition between colonialism and independence. His granular historical and economic account provides a powerful rejoinder to those histories of US imperialism wherein the imperial peripheries and imperialism’s subjects are merely the backdrop for an exploration of the metropolitan self. Making a signal contribution to discussions of racial capitalism, economics, business and financial history, and American studies Monetary Authorities stands alone.” - Peter James Hudson, author of Bankers and Empire: How Wall Street Colonized the Caribbean

"By digging out various facts from archives and contemporary writings, the author explores persuasively how U.S. authorities tried to utilize Philippine monetary and financial systems not only for economic security but also for surveillance on the population in the colonial Philippines. This innovative approach on colonial history should be further explored in Asian Studies in general, and the Southeast Asian Studies in particular." - Yoshiko Nagano, Diplomatic History

"Given the significance of the topic, Lumba’s book is an important contribution to the scholarly work on Philippine history, economic and business history, and the history of foreign capital and currencies. It gives us a deeper understanding of the economic underpinnings of various Philippine historical epochs and makes us reflect on the lasting impacts of the US colonial project that continues to haunt Philippine society today." - Katherine G. Lacson, Pacific Affairs

"This book would be an excellent addition to seminars that examine US empire in Asia or address the history of money and banking on a global scale. In fact, Lumba’s book shows how we can no longer understand monetary authority and capitalist rule without considering how such authority has been secured by experiments in the colonies." - Allison Truitt, Journal of Asian Studies

“[Monetary Authorities] is a clear-sighted, archivally rich, and erudite account of how imperial logic defined the birth of modern economic thinking in the Philippines and the US.” - Lisandro E. Claudio, Philippine Studies

". . . in chronicling debates on several economic dimensions of the Philippines' experience of the disorienting and capricious forces of late-Spanish and then American imperialism, the book will stimulate readers to explore the materials on which it draws." - Michael Montesano, Sojourn