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Professor Becker on Free Banking: A Comment

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  • van den Hauwe, Ludwig

Abstract

Professor Becker´s 1956 paper about free banking was originally intended as a reaction to the 100-percent reserve proposals that were then popular at the University of Chicago. Today the original paper clearly illustrates how considerably our views and theories about free banking have evolved in the past 50 years. This development is to a considerable extent the result of the work and the writings of economists of the Austrian School. Pascal Salin is one of the most prominent members of the Austrian free banking school. In a new introduction to the 1956 paper written especially for the Festschrift in honor of Pascal Salin, Professor Gary Becker partially repudiates and mitigates some of his previous conclusions. This event offers a fitting opportunity to review some developments in the theory of free banking and related issues and to add a few clarifications concerning the present “state of the art” as regards an acceptable and adequate notion of free banking.

Suggested Citation

  • van den Hauwe, Ludwig, 2007. "Professor Becker on Free Banking: A Comment," MPRA Paper 8251, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Nov 2007.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:8251
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/8251/1/MPRA_paper_8251.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Douglas W. Diamond & Philip H. Dybvig, 2000. "Bank runs, deposit insurance, and liquidity," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Win), pages 14-23.
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    8. Mr. S. E Oppers, 2002. "The Austrian Theory of Business Cycles: Old Lessons for Modern Economic Policy?," IMF Working Papers 2002/002, International Monetary Fund.
    9. van den Hauwe, Ludwig, 2006. "The Uneasy Case for Fractional-Reserve Free Banking," MPRA Paper 120, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    Cited by:

    1. Omerčević, Edo, 2013. "Monetary systems, sustainable growth and inclusive economic development," MPRA Paper 44559, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Free Banking; Monetary Regimes; Monetary Standards; Business Cycles;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

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