Robert E. Wright portrays the development of a modern financial sector—including a central bank, a national monetary system, a network of financial intermediaries, and efficient capital markets—as the driving force behind America's economic transition from agricultural colony to industrial juggernaut. He applies the economic theory of information asymmetry to understandings of early U.S. financial development, expanding on recent scholarship of finance-led economic growth. The book builds upon many of Adam Smith's lesser-known insights into financial relationships.