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Ontario History

From Wall Street to Bay Street:The Origins and Evolution of American and Canadian Finance by Christopher Kobrak and Joe Martin Éric Pecile

Volume 112, numéro 1, spring 2020

URI : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1069016ar DOI : https://doi.org/10.7202/1069016ar

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Éditeur(s) The Ontario Historical Society

ISSN 0030-2953 (imprimé) 2371-4654 (numérique)

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Citer ce compte rendu Pecile, É. (2020). Compte rendu de [From Wall Street to Bay Street:The Origins and Evolution of American and Canadian Finance by Christopher Kobrak and Joe Martin]. Ontario History, 112(1), 113–115. https://doi.org/10.7202/1069016ar

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Cet article est diffusé et préservé par Érudit. Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l’Université de Montréal, l’Université Laval et l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. https://www.erudit.org/fr/ book reviews 113

among other popular park histories in extraction within the confines of the park that it does not center tourism, outdoor and accurately centers timber extraction in recreation, or the experiences of park visi- his account of the park’s establishment. tors. There is only one section of the book The organization of the book makes dedicated purely to these topics, “Park Six: it both visually appealing and accessible The Park as Playground,” and it does not to general readers. The book is broken occur until after page 200. Instead, MacK- into section, chapters, and sub-sections, ay provides a full, multi-dimensional com- which make it easier to digest in manage- prehensive history of Algonquin Provin- able amounts or to find specific informa- cial Park that acknowledges it not just as tion. The text also includes topical insets a place for play, but also as a place of work. that stand alone and enrich the main text. This emphasis on labour enables MacKay This format makes the book reminiscent of to explore a variety of topics including re- a textbook and is one of the reasons that source extraction, park rangers, and small, this book could serve as an engaging and private businesses that are too-often ig- educative assignment in an undergradu- nored by park historians. ate or graduate level course. Many of these MacKay does not proliferate an inac- insets highlight museum and archeologi- curate idea of Algonquin as an untouched cal objects, demonstrating that MacKay wilderness. MacKay is adamant and effec- understands the value of tangible heritage tively demonstrates that Algonquin is a within traditional textual history. peopled place and was long before the es- MacKay’s Algonquin Park—A Place Like tablishment of the park. He begins his his- No Other is a testament to the power of slow tory of the park with the Indigenous peo- scholarship. MacKay had the time to gather ple who lived in the region before settlers and sit with these materials for decades, a lux- arrived and after whom the park is named. ury that other historians, particularly within MacKay’s examination of the Indigenous the academy, rarely get. The result is one of history of the park—though still tellingly the most thoughtful and detailed park histo- the slimmest section of the book—is one ries written to-date; a must-read for historians of the most detailed published to date. He and the general public. unapologetically identifies the park as a colonial and settler colonial enterprise and Dr. Jessica M. DeWitt treats it as such throughout. MacKay also Network in Canadian History and Envi- does not sugarcoat the history of timber ronment

From Wall Street to Bay Street The Origins and Evolution of American and Canadian Finance By Christopher Kobrak and Joe Martin Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 2018. 401 pages. $34.95 paper- back. ISBN 978-1-44261-625-7 (https://utorontopress.com/ca/)

istories of finance are often narra- instead of rises. With an incline towards tives emphasizing failure over suc- the modern, its notable events include the Hcess, chaos over stability, collapses Great Depression, Black Monday, and the 114 ONTARIO HISTORY

Great Recession. This the Great Recession of preference towards the 2008. This comparative recent is warranted, es- economic history of the pecially since so much giants of North Ameri- of our immediate eco- ca’s financial landscape nomic well-being is con- begins with the forma- tingent on the stability tion of these countries of global financial mar- as distinct economic kets, institutions that spaces at the start of remain in their two- the eighteenth century hundred-year infancy. to trace their economic Focusing on historic progress throughout all crashes primes our hind- the financial collapses sight to learn from the that rocked our financial economic mismanage- system over the past two ment of the past, help- centuries. ing us draft individual Kobrak and Martin and societal practices to open the narrative in the avoid comparable deba- mid-eighteenth century cles. These events are dissected to establish with the lumbering financial behemoth of causes much like seeking to identify the the British Empire, describing how Cana- source of an illness. What financial deci- da and the United States become distinct sions determined the course of the reces- economic spaces. The former was a young sion? Which policymakers were in charge primary and secondary sector economy at the time? Were they responsible? What that depended heavily on investment from roles did banks, investors, corporations Britain to maintain itself whereas the lat- and consumers play? How did markets ter achieved a full three-sector economy react? Questions like these, which initiate that became self-sustaining and outright searches for an agent-based explanation, competitive with its imperial hub. Finan- dominate our understanding of those great cial attitudes in both countries were to in- economic tumults that have had lasting ef- herit the culture of these colonial legacies. fects on our economies today. Canada was more inclined to regulate the Christopher Kobrak and Joe Martin terms of competition and let go, whereas seek to break this diagnostic approach the United States allowed economic activ- in From Wall Street to Bay Street by ity to go grow at its own pace. However, as shifting emphasis from the behaviours the second chapter outlines, from 1860 to of economic agents to the structures and 1870, a solid financial apparatus had yet cultures of economies that inform how to emerge in either country. From 1869 economic crises occur and how societies to 1914, Kobrak and Martin describe the respond to them. The authors compare the birth of two distinct financial societies via development of financial infrastructure an account of the explosion of banking in Canada and the United States to make activity in North America. With govern- sense of how these economies acquired the ment oversight, Canadian bank branches necessary institutional, political, cultural emerged from the roots of larger institu- and, of course, financial tools to respond to tions. Regulatory standards assured that book reviews 115 these early banks were competitive but mented and competitive requiring massive safe from bank runs. In the United States, intervention when markets spiralled. Lais- banking was left to individual states. Finan- sez-faire is a temporary state in American cial markets were highly competitive un- finance, with the government needing to der these conditions resulting in the rapid step in to restore faith in the system when emergence of an overabundance of finan- it destabilizes. cial institutions. Americans could access With some final commentary on more financial services than before and, 2008, the authors conclude that Canada in a diverse market, financial innovation benefited from much sounder financial generated a variety of services to match footing than the United States. The result the variety of institutions. After exploring was a softer recession and an economy that this maturing of North American finance, could continue a growth trajectory unhin- the reader is launched into the tumults dered. American finance required intense its markets suffered from 1914 to 1945. intervention, reform and scrutiny. The During this period, Canadians continued economic culture of neoliberal capitalism to incorporate government oversight of came under fire as the supposed trium- banking while Americans struck the New phant economic system failed once again, Deal to increase government oversight for and due to its own miscalculations rather a time while gradually rolling back to free than by a loss to an economic better. form financial innovation. The narrative The authors offer a refreshingly -in concludes with US ascendancy over world novative break from the disaster-piece finance after the Second World War, the narratives that form the basis of public post-Bretton Woods era the authors call facing financial history. From Wall Street the Pax Americana. to Bay Street is a financial story from start Throughout the book, the authors to finish featuring politicians, banks and contend that Canada and the United customers on the stage without a desire to States developed two very different atti- toss an agency ball to any party to account tudes with regards to economics that were for financial crisis. Instead, economy and definitive for their approaches to finances: economic values are blended to show how stability for the former and innovation for faith in the financial model is integral to its the latter. In Canada, banking was moni- success. If a system nurtures faith, then it tored by the government in such a way that can approach disasters in a different way its conduct was equitably competitive, and than in one where it is lacking. Canadian once sound regulations were in place, the and American finance are presented to the market was permitted to run its course reader accessibly without preciously jar- with minimal government intervention. gonistic trappings. Offering richly detailed Growth was not necessarily pronounced, descriptions of financial industry compo- but the system was built on equilibrium, nents parallel to compelling narrative ac- something Canadians rely on, feeding counts of events, this book is a cornerstone into the robustness of the system. On the work for understanding the North Ameri- other hand, the United States depended can financial system today and get a sense on increasing access to the financial system for where it may be headed. ensuring regular growth, and innovation by fostering competition. Consequently, Éric Pecile, PhD Candidate, Department American banking became highly frag- of History, University of Toronto