Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors

ISBN-13: 9780521630290 / Angielski / Twarda / 1999 / 306 str.

Perkins, Edwin J.

Opis

Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors focuses on the spectacularly successful career of financier Charles Merrill (1885-1956), the founder of Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's largest brokerage and investment firm. Merrill was the most innovative entrepreneur in the United States financial services sector in the twentieth century. He was the most important figure in promoting common stocks as a prudent long-term investment vehicle for members of the middle class across the United States. Opening more than 100 branch offices across the nation by 1950, his firm solicited millions of middle-class households and became famous for bringing "Wall Street to Main Street" in the post-World War II era. Today, American investors hold, either directly or indirectly through mutual funds, a greater percentage of common stocks in their financial portfolios than do the citizens of any other country. Based on archival sources, this book is the first biography published about the career of this major Wall Street figure. Edwin Perkins is a professor of history and an expert on the development of American financial services. Author of five books and several journal articles, Professor Perkins has testified before the U.S. Congress about proposed reforms to U.S. financial laws.

Recenzje

'This work makes an important contribution to the history of financial services.' Journal of Financial History Review

Spis treści

Introduction; 1. The return to Wall Street; 2. Growing up in Florida; 3. A Northern education; 4. The lure of New York; 5. Off to a flying start; 6. The booming twenties; 7. The Safeway decade; 8. Reform on Wall Street; 9. Third career: new strategies on Wall Street; 10. Testing new strategies: the war years; 11. Sharing power with Win Smith; 12. The postwar years, 1945–50; 13. Last years at the helm, 1951–56; 14. Merrill's legacy; Epilogue: Merrill Lynch in the 1990s; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.