Free Banking
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The Money Debate
In the battle of ideologies, the libertarian always faces certain disadvantages. The foundation is, as the name implies, liberty. Yet there is no strict use towards which “liberty” can be put. It is a somewhat amorphous idea, and context changes its meaning. That is not to say that an individual libertarian is inconsistent, or at…
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The Experience of Free Banking
“There was controversy over how much power the central bank should have and what it should try to do, but no respectable economist suggested that central banking itself was unnecessary or harmful until Hayek finally despaired of it in 1976 and began to argue that the only way to achieve monetary stability was to denationalize…
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“Illinois Free Banking Experience”
“Recent studies by Rolnick and Weber (1983, 1984) have presented evidence challenging the conventional view of the Free Banking Era (1837-1863). The conventional view depicts a period of financial chaos in which lenient regulations gave rise to a plethora of banks, bank notes and coun-terfeit bank notes, unscrupulous “wildcat” bankers, and large noteholder losses. Rolnick…
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“New Evidence on the Free Banking Era”
“The United States has experienced many periods of major banking panics during which a large number of banks have failed and financial markets have been in considerable disarray. The period consid-ered by many as the worst is the one period when banks were more or less left alone to pursue their own profit-motivated interests, the…
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“Free Banking and Information Asymmetry”
“A traditional argument against free banking is that it will collapse because of information externalities: it is impossible for depositors to tell whether a high deposit rate offered by a bank is due to its high efficiency or risky lending strategy. This paper shows that in a separating equilibrium a higher-quality bank offers a lower…
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“Free Banking and Monetary Control”
“Were free banking to reemerge today, it would probably be based, not on a gold standard, but on irredeemable paper (‘fiat’) base money issued by a former or extant central bank. Under this form of free banking, the price level is no longer given, and conventional monetary policy questions remain relevant. In particular, would free…
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Reflections on Money
On Thursday, June 17, I attended a lecture by Dr. Benjamin Powell of Suffolk University. He spoke at the Charles G. Koch Foundation, giving one of his excellent lectures on Somalia and its Stateless society. While the lecture itself is well worth hearing, one of the most fundamental statements made came almost as an aside.…
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“Monetary Central Planning and the State”
The Future of Freedom Foundation has an in-depth history of the debate over a monetary central authority. Dr. Richard Ebeling offers his stunning knowledge on the subject in a 40 part series entitled “Monetary Central Planning and the State”. To read his work, here is a link to the FFF’s Freedom Daily. “Monetary Central Planning…
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“Free Banking for Zimbabwe”
“Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation is destroying the economy, pushing more of its inhabitants into poverty and forcing millions of Zimbabweans to emigrate. Since 1997, inflation has surged by 1,030,217%, while living standards (as measured by real GDP per capita) have fallen by 35%. In addition, hyperinflation has robbed people of their savings and financial institutions of their…
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Free Banking in Britain
“Free banking, generically speaking, denotes a monetary system without a central bank, under which the issuing of currency is left to private banks. This book explores how this could work in practice by examining how this has worked historically, specifically in the United Kingdom in the early 19th century. After building a theory of free…
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The Money Debate
In the battle of ideologies, the libertarian always faces certain disadvantages. The foundation is, as the name implies, liberty. Yet there is no strict use towards which “liberty” can be put. It is a somewhat amorphous idea, and context changes its meaning. That is not to say that an individual libertarian is inconsistent, or at…
-
The Experience of Free Banking
“There was controversy over how much power the central bank should have and what it should try to do, but no respectable economist suggested that central banking itself was unnecessary or harmful until Hayek finally despaired of it in 1976 and began to argue that the only way to achieve monetary stability was to denationalize…
-
“Illinois Free Banking Experience”
“Recent studies by Rolnick and Weber (1983, 1984) have presented evidence challenging the conventional view of the Free Banking Era (1837-1863). The conventional view depicts a period of financial chaos in which lenient regulations gave rise to a plethora of banks, bank notes and coun-terfeit bank notes, unscrupulous “wildcat” bankers, and large noteholder losses. Rolnick…
-
“New Evidence on the Free Banking Era”
“The United States has experienced many periods of major banking panics during which a large number of banks have failed and financial markets have been in considerable disarray. The period consid-ered by many as the worst is the one period when banks were more or less left alone to pursue their own profit-motivated interests, the…
-
“Free Banking and Information Asymmetry”
“A traditional argument against free banking is that it will collapse because of information externalities: it is impossible for depositors to tell whether a high deposit rate offered by a bank is due to its high efficiency or risky lending strategy. This paper shows that in a separating equilibrium a higher-quality bank offers a lower…
-
“Free Banking and Monetary Control”
“Were free banking to reemerge today, it would probably be based, not on a gold standard, but on irredeemable paper (‘fiat’) base money issued by a former or extant central bank. Under this form of free banking, the price level is no longer given, and conventional monetary policy questions remain relevant. In particular, would free…
-
Reflections on Money
On Thursday, June 17, I attended a lecture by Dr. Benjamin Powell of Suffolk University. He spoke at the Charles G. Koch Foundation, giving one of his excellent lectures on Somalia and its Stateless society. While the lecture itself is well worth hearing, one of the most fundamental statements made came almost as an aside.…
-
“Monetary Central Planning and the State”
The Future of Freedom Foundation has an in-depth history of the debate over a monetary central authority. Dr. Richard Ebeling offers his stunning knowledge on the subject in a 40 part series entitled “Monetary Central Planning and the State”. To read his work, here is a link to the FFF’s Freedom Daily. “Monetary Central Planning…
-
“Free Banking for Zimbabwe”
“Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation is destroying the economy, pushing more of its inhabitants into poverty and forcing millions of Zimbabweans to emigrate. Since 1997, inflation has surged by 1,030,217%, while living standards (as measured by real GDP per capita) have fallen by 35%. In addition, hyperinflation has robbed people of their savings and financial institutions of their…
-
Free Banking in Britain
“Free banking, generically speaking, denotes a monetary system without a central bank, under which the issuing of currency is left to private banks. This book explores how this could work in practice by examining how this has worked historically, specifically in the United Kingdom in the early 19th century. After building a theory of free…
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