Laissez-faire banking / Kevin Dowd.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [357]-371) and index.

Part 1 Free-Banking Theory: Automatic Stabilizing Mechanism Under Free Banking; Option Clauses and the Stability of a Laissez-Faire Monetary System; Monetary Freedom and Monetary Stability; Is Banking a Natural Monopoly?; Models of Banking Instability. Part 2 Historical Experience: Australian Free Banking; US Banking in the "Free Banking" Period; Money and Banking: The American Experience; Did Central Banks Evolve Naturally?; The Evolution of Central Banking in England, 1821-1890; The Evolution of Central Banking in England: A Reply to My Critics. Part 3 Monetary and Banking Reform: Stopping Inflation; Does Europe Need a Federal Reserve System?; Evaluating the Hard Ecu; The US Banking Crisis: The Way Out.

The idea of free (or laissez-faire) banking has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance in recent years. It is a novel idea that challenges much of what many...
banking scholars still take for granted - that banking is inherently unstable, that the banking system needs a lender of last resort or deposit insurance to defend it in a crisis, and that the Government has to protect the value of the currency. 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.