Gary Becker on Free Banking
Journal of Libertarian Studies Volume 22 (2011): 437-470
34 Pages Posted: 30 Apr 2008 Last revised: 27 Apr 2017
Date Written: Spring 2008
Abstract
Gary Becker's paper about free banking written in 1956 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, Gary Becker partly 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 concept of free banking.
Keywords: Free Banking, Monetary Regimes, Monetary Standards, Business Cycles
JEL Classification: E32, E42, E58
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation