Laissez-Faire Banking
The idea of free banking has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance in recent years. Against this free banking sets an argument which is in essence very simple: if markets are generally better at allocating resources than governments, then what is different about money and the industry that provides it and why? Laissez-Faire Banking is divided into three inter-related sections: dealing with the theory of free banking, historical experiences of it, and present-day monetary and banking reforms based on free banking principles.
Laissez-Faire is a novel idea that challenges much of what many banking scholars still take for granted:
- banking is inherently unstable
- the banking system needs a lender of last resort or deposit insurance to defend it in a crisis
- the Government has to protect the value of the currency