12.07.2015 Views

Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles - The Ludwig von Mises ...

Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles - The Ludwig von Mises ...

Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles - The Ludwig von Mises ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

4THE CREDITEXPANSION PROCESSThis chapter <strong>and</strong> the following five comprise an analysisof the economic consequences of violating the generallegal principles inherent in the irregular deposit contract.We examined the legal <strong>and</strong> historical consequences ofsuch violations in chapters 1, 2, <strong>and</strong> 3 <strong>and</strong> will now focus onthe process by which banks create loans <strong>and</strong> deposits fromnothing <strong>and</strong> on the different implications this process has forsociety. <strong>The</strong> most serious consequence of banks’ creation ofloans is the following: to the extent loans are granted withoutthe corresponding backing of voluntary saving, the real productivestructure is inevitably distorted <strong>and</strong> recurrent economiccrises <strong>and</strong> recessions result. We will explain the circulationcredit theory of the business cycle <strong>and</strong> then criticallyanalyze the macroeconomic theories of monetarism <strong>and</strong> Keynesianeconomics. In addition we will carry out a brief reviewof the recurring economic crises which have thus far assailedthe world. <strong>The</strong> first of the two final chapters contains a theoreticalstudy of central banking <strong>and</strong> free banking, <strong>and</strong> the secondconsists of an examination of the proposal of a 100-percentreserve requirement for banking.1INTRODUCTION<strong>The</strong> economic theory of money, banking, <strong>and</strong> business cyclesis a relatively recent development in the history of economic167

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!