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

xlviMoney, Bank Credit, and Economic Cyclesand applied them to the analysis of law. This has been thecase, for example, with respect to the economic analysis of contractsand civil liability, bankruptcy law, the family, and evencriminal law and justice. Very few economic analyses of lawhave had mainly macroeconomic implications, and this reflectsthe harmful decades-long separation between these two sidesof economics. However, this need not be the case. It is necessaryto recognize economics as a unified whole, where macroeconomicelements are firmly rooted in their microeconomicfoundations. In addition, I will attempt to demonstrate thatthe economic analysis of some juridical institutions yields criticalimplications and conclusions that are essentially macroeconomic.Or, in other words, even when the basic analysis ismicroeconomic, the conclusions drawn and primary outcomesresulting from it are macroeconomic. By closing theprofound artificial gap between micro and macroeconomics,we arrive at a unified theoretical treatment of legal issues inthe economic analysis of law.This is my primary goal as I undertake an economic analysisof the monetary irregular-deposit contract, in its differentfacets. Furthermore, I intend my examination to cast light onone of the most obscure and complex spheres of economics:the theory of money, bank credit, and economic cycles. Nowthat the issue of socialism has been resolved, 2 at least from atheoretical standpoint, and it has been empirically illustratedto be impracticable, the main theoretical challenge facingeconomists at the dawn of the twenty-first century lies mostlikely in the field of money, credit, and financial institutions.The highly abstract nature of social relationships involvingmoney in its various forms makes these relationships remarkablydifficult to understand and the corresponding theoreticaltreatment of them particularly complex. In addition, in thefinancial and monetary spheres of western countries, a series ofinstitutions has been developed and imposed; namely centralbanks, bank legislation, a monopoly on the issue of currency,2 Jesús Huerta de Soto, Socialismo, cálculo económico y función empresarial(Madrid: Unión Editorial, 1992; 4th ed., 2010). English edition, Socialism,Economic Calculation and Entrepreneurship (Cheltenham, U.K. andNorthampton, Mass., U.S.A.: Edward Elgar, 2010).