James Grant

James Grant studied economic history at Indiana University and earned a master's degree from Columbia University. He worked as a reporter at Barron's before founding Grant's Interest Rate Observer in 1983 — a twice-monthly newsletter that has been providing independent analysis of credit markets, interest rates, and financial history for over 40 years. Grant's writing is notable for its historical depth, literary quality, and often contrarian perspective. The newsletter draws extensively on historical parallels to illuminate current credit and rates conditions, arguing that financial cycles repeat and that history provides the best guide to future market behaviour. Grant has been consistently bearish on US government debt and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy for much of the past two decades — a position that proved premature but highlighted structural concerns about debt sustainability. He has written several books on financial history and monetary policy including biographies of John Adams and Walter Bagehot, and a history of the 1920s. Grant's Interest Rate Observer is read by institutional credit and bond investors globally and is considered one of the most intellectually rigorous publications in credit analysis.