Most interpretations of American free banking experiences in the nineteenth century focus on the failure of what is commonly believed to have been an experiment in unregulated banking. In this dissertation completed in 1988, economist Karen Y. Palasek advances the thesis that not only was free banking a strictly regulated system, but the reasons for its failure stem directly from the regulations themselves and from the regulatory ties between bond collateral requirements for competitively issued redeemable banknotes and a large volume of government debt which was essentially used as a reserve by free banks.
To illustrate the impediments presented by free banking laws, Palasek compares free banking experiences in New York to bank experiences in New England under the Suffolk System. She argues that the New England regional banking system that developed under the Suffolk was essentially a laissez-faire banking system, producing stability and safety for noteholders and depositors through market-driven behavioral constraints on the banks. New York, arguably the best example of American free banking, compares unfavorably on both stability and safety to the more laissez-faire system. The implications of this reexamination of free banking and the recent debates over the causes of instability in the free banking era have a bearing on modern reconsideration of deregulation and the self-regulating properties of a laissez-faire monetary system in the areas of stability, safety, and adequacy of banking facilities.
Biography of Margit von Mises: 1890–1993
Margit and Ludwig von Mises were a magnificent team. Margit was unsurpassed in devotion to Mises the person in life and in perpetuating his memory and his ideas after his death.
Biography of Ludwig Lachmann (1906-1990): Life and Work
“The theory of capital lacks a simple dimension for the measurement of its subject matter.
Biography of Juan de Mariana: The Influence of the Spanish Scholastics (1536-1624)
The prehistory the Austrian School of economics can be found in the works of the Spanish scholastics written in the "Spanish Golden Century."
Biography of Gottfried Haberler (1901-1995)
Gottfried Haberler was one of the first economists to make a case for the productivity of free trade in terms of the modern subjective theory of value.
Biography of Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
One of the most notable economists and social philosophers of the twentieth century, Ludwig von Mises, in the course of a long and highly productiv
Biography of Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (1851-1914)
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (Born February 12, 1851; Died 1914) was in the right place at the right time to contribute importantly to the development of Austrian economics. Studying at the University of Vienna, he was twenty years old when Carl Menger's Principles of Economics appeared in print in 1871. His formal university training was in law (and thus he was not actually a student of Menger's), but after completing his doctorate in law in 1875, he began preparing himself both at home and abroad to teach economics in his native Austria.
Cheap Money, Gold, and the Federal Reserve Bank Policy
The present glut in the money markets, with excessively cheap money and its attendant evils and dangers to the credit structure of the country, is due to the concurrence of three main causes.
Cheap Money, Gold, and the Federal Reserve Bank Policy
The present glut in the money markets, with excessively cheap money and its attendant evils and dangers to the credit structure of the country, is due to the concurrence of three main causes.
Myth and Truth about Libertarianism
Murray N. Rothbard Myth and Truth about Libertarianism Adobe PDF Library 4.0
Myth and Truth about Libertarianism
Murray N. Rothbard Myth and Truth about Libertarianism Adobe PDF Library 4.0
Investment that Raises the Demand for Capital
From The Review of Economic Statistics, Volume 19, Number 4 (November 1937).
The Mythology of Capital
From The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 50, Number 2 (February 1936).
Investment that Raises the Demand for Capital
From The Review of Economic Statistics, Volume 19, Number 4 (November 1937).
Reflections on the Pure Theory of Money of Mr. J.M. Keynes
From Economica, No. 33 (August 1931) and No. 35 (February 1932).
The Mythology of Capital
From The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 50, Number 2 (February 1936).
Reflections on the Pure Theory of Money of Mr. J.M. Keynes
From Economica, No. 33 (August 1931) and No. 35 (February 1932).
Films on Liberty and the State
A list of some films of particular interest to Austrians and libertarians.
Films on Liberty and the State
A list of some films of particular interest to Austrians and libertarians.
Dr. Palasek is Assistant Professor of Business at Barton College, and serves as the Director of Educational and Academic Programs at the John Locke Foundation.
The amazing fact is that the great majority of British people are not yet consciously aware that they are living in a very severe economic crisis.
