Free Banking, the Real-Balance Effect, and Walras' Law

Procesos De Mercado Revista Europea De Economía Política, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 241-258, 2010

18 Pages Posted: 1 Oct 2008 Last revised: 18 Aug 2022

Date Written: September 26, 2008

Abstract

The author of this article draws special attention to two particular claims of the free bankers concerning the supposed working characteristics of a fractional-reserve free banking system which may strike the reader as questionable. The first of these relates to the alleged absence of a real-balance effect under free banking. The second relates to the free bankers' reference to Walras' Law as providing a rationale for the free banking system's "offsetting" actions when confronted with changes in the public' s demand to hold bank liabilities. This rationale is defective since it is based on an erroneous interpretation of Walras' Law. The author's conclusion does not imply that it is not at all possible, from a rational viewpoint, to make a plausible case for this variant of free banking, only that the argument should be freed from certain questionable tenets.

Keywords: Walras' Law, Real-Balance Effect, Free Banking

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JEL Classification: E0, E32, E42, E5, E51, E52

Suggested Citation

Van Den Hauwe, Ludwig, Free Banking, the Real-Balance Effect, and Walras' Law (September 26, 2008). Procesos De Mercado Revista Europea De Economía Política, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 241-258, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1274385

Ludwig Van Den Hauwe (Contact Author)

Université Paris Dauphine ( email )

Place du Maréchal de Tassigny
Paris, Cedex 16 75775
France

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