Bankers' Trust: How Social Relations Avert Global Financial Collapse

Cornell Studies in Money

By: Aditi Sahasrabuddhe

Narrated by: Lee Ann Howlett

Central bank cooperation during global financial crises has been anything but consistent. While some crises are arrested with extensive cooperation, others are left to spiral. Going beyond explanations based on state power, interests, or resources, Aditi Sahasrabuddhe argues that central bank cooperation—or the lack thereof—often boils down to ties of trust, familiarity, and goodwill between bank leaders. These personal relations influence the likelihood of access to ad hoc, bilateral arrangements with more favorable terms.

Sahasrabuddhe uncovers just how critical interpersonal trust between central bankers has been in managing global financial crises. She tracks the emergence of such relationships in the interwar 1920s, how they helped prop up the Bretton Woods system in the 1960s, and how they prevented the 2008 global financial crisis from turning into another Great Depression.

Sahasrabuddhe challenges the idea that central banking is purely apolitical and technocratic. By calling attention to the influence personal relationships can have on whether countries sink or swim during crises, Bankers' Trust asks us to reconsider the transparency and democratic accountability of global financial governance today.

The book is published by Cornell University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2025 Cornell University (P)2025 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"An outstanding contribution to our understanding of the management—and mismanagement—of financial crises by central bankers." (Rawi Abdelal, Harvard Business School)

"Bankers' Trust is extraordinarily timely and I warmly commend it." (Paul Tucker, author of Global Discord)

"This is groundbreaking research." (Duvvuri Subbarao, Former Governor, Reserve Bank of India)