The Experience of Free Banking

For many years the philosophy of central banking reigned supreme and was virtually unquestioned. However the shortcomings of central banking systems, not least their inability to produce currency that does not inflate, has lead to a resurgence in free - or "laissez faire" - banking. Some of this interest has focused on theoretical issues but there has also been much historical work on places and periods that did experience something like free banking. "The Experience of Free Banking" contains a summary of that work, including assessments of free banking in Australia, Canada, China, Columbia, France, Scotland, Switzerland and the US, as well as a world overview. Competition in banking was suppressed because it was thought that it would lead to rapid inflation, de-stabilize the banking industry or, more generally, because banking was a natural monopoly anyway. These case studies provide an historical laboratory in which these assumptions about free banking can be tested. This book should be of interest to academics, postgraduates and undergraduates in economics, economic history, banking and finance.