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Fractional Reserve Banking: Some Quibbles

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  • Bagus, Philipp
  • Howden, David

Abstract

We explore several unaddressed issues in George Selgin’s (1988) claim that the best monetary system to maintain monetary equilibrium is a fractional reserve free banking one. The claim that adverse clearing balances would limit credit expansion in a fractional reserve free banking system is more troublesome than previously reckoned. Both lengthened clearing periods and interbank agreements render credit expansion unrestrained. “The theory of free banking” confuses increases in money held with increases in real savings, resulting in exacerbated economic cycles when fiduciary media is issued equally under both scenarios. Most troubling, these economic cycles generated by the free banking system breed an incentive to create a coordinating agent serving as a lender of last resort. The central bank is demonstrated to be a natural, if not unavoidable outgrowth of the fractional reserve free banking system.

Suggested Citation

  • Bagus, Philipp & Howden, David, 2010. "Fractional Reserve Banking: Some Quibbles," MPRA Paper 79590, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:79590
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/79590/1/MPRA_paper_79590.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Selgin, George, 1994. "Free Banking and Monetary Control," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(427), pages 1449-1459, November.
    2. Hoppe, Hans-Hermann, 1994. "How Is Fiat Money Possible?--or, the Devolution of Money and Credit," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 49-74.
    3. Philipp Bagus & David Howden, 2009. "The Legitimacy of Loan Maturity Mismatching: A Risky, but not Fraudulent, Undertaking," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 399-406, December.
    4. Philipp Bagus, 2008. "Monetary policy as bad medicine: The volatile relationship between business cycles and asset prices," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 21(4), pages 283-300, December.
    5. Horwitz, Steven, 1996. "Capital Theory, Inflation and Deflation: The Austrians and Monetary Disequilibrium Theory Compared," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 287-308, October.
    6. Selgin, George & White, Lawrence H, 1996. "In Defense of Fiduciary Media--Or, We Are Not Devo(lutionists), We Are Misesians!," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 83-107.
    7. Glasner,David, 2005. "Free Banking and Monetary Reform," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521022514, October.
    8. Selgin, George, 2001. "In-Concert Overexpansion and the Precautionary Demand for Bank Reserves," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(2), pages 294-300, May.
    9. Hayek, F. A., . "Money, Capital, and Fluctuations," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226321271 edited by McCloughry, R. K., October.
    10. George A. Selgin & Lawrence H. White, 1994. "How Would the Invisible Hand Handle Money?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1718-1749, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Philipp Bagus & David Howden, 2012. "Monetary equilibrium and price stickiness: A rejoinder," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 25(3), pages 271-277, September.
    2. Jesús Huerta de Soto & Antonio Sánchez-Bayón & Philipp Bagus, 2021. "Principles of Monetary & Financial Sustainability and Wellbeing in a Post-COVID-19 World: The Crisis and Its Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-11, April.
    3. George Selgin, 2012. "Mere quibbles: Bagus and Howden’s critique of the theory of free banking," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 131-148, June.
    4. Van Den Hauwe, Ludwig, 2017. "Monetary Constitutionalism: Some Recent Developments," MPRA Paper 83052, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Philipp Bagus & David Howden, 2012. "Still unanswered quibbles with fractional reserve free banking," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 159-171, June.
    6. Jörg Guido Hülsmann, 2011. "A Stock-taking of the Impact of the Crisis," Chapters, in: David Howden (ed.), Institutions in Crisis, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Bagus, Philipp & Gabriel, Amadeus & Howden, David, 2014. "Causes and Consequences of Inflation," MPRA Paper 79608, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Philipp Bagus & Amadeus Gabriel & David Howden, 2018. "On the Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Legitimate Banking Contracts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 669-678, February.
    9. repec:idn:jimfjn:v:4:y:2018:i:2j:p:1-32 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Romain Baeriswyl, 2014. "Intertemporal discoordination in the 100 percent reserve banking system," Working Papers 14.06, Swiss National Bank, Study Center Gerzensee.
    11. Anthony Evans & Steven Horwitz, 2012. "On not doing due diligence: Bagus and Howden on free banking," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 149-157, June.
    12. Degens, Philipp, 2013. "Alternative Geldkonzepte - ein Literaturbericht," MPIfG Discussion Paper 13/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    13. Philipp Bagus & David Howden & Amadeus Gabriel, 2015. "Oil and Water Do Not Mix, or: Aliud Est Credere, Aliud Deponere," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 197-206, April.
    14. Anthony Evans, 2014. "In Defence of ‘Demand’ Deposits: Contractual Solutions to the Barnett and Block, and Bagus and Howden Debate," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(2), pages 351-364, October.
    15. William Luther & Alexander Salter, 2012. "Monetary equilibrium and price stickiness reconsidered: A reply to Bagus and Howden," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 25(3), pages 263-269, September.
    16. APATACHIOAE, Adina, 2014. "Free Banking – Possible Solution To The Recent Crisis?," Journal of Financial and Monetary Economics, Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 1(1), pages 66-72.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    free banking; business cycle; credit expansion; interbank clearing; monetary equilibrium; central banking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General

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