Rep. Ron Paul sponsored this Congressional lecture on "Why Was the Federal Reserve Created?", the introductory lecture in a three part series on the Federal Reserve System for Congressional staff. As a continuing educational tool this lecture was filmed and is provided to the public. The lecture was delivered by Dr. George Selgin, Professor of Economics at the Terry School of Business at the University of Georgia and author of a number of books on money and banking, such as "Bank Deregulation and Monetary Order" and "Good Money."

Prof. Selgin provides a short but comprehensive explanation of the institutional drawbacks of the United States banking system during the 19th century and how this fueled desire for financial reform. Unfortunately, as Prof. Selgin goes on to describe, the solution of allowing a free market in banking was rejected and instead another layer of government regulation was placed on the banking sector in the form of the Federal Reserve System.

Related: Ron Paul Money Lecture Series Pt. 1: "What is Money" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vowbrq... Pt. 2: "What is Constitutional Money?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6gMkK...