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

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

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Central <strong>and</strong> Free <strong>Bank</strong>ing <strong>The</strong>ory 7135CONCLUSION: THE FALSE DEBATE BETWEENSUPPORTERS OF CENTRAL BANKING AND DEFENDERSOF FRACTIONAL-RESERVE FREE BANKING<strong>The</strong> traditional approach to the debate between advocatesof central banking <strong>and</strong> those of fractional-reserve free bankingis essentially flawed. First, this approach ignores the fact thatthe fractional-reserve free-banking system almost inevitablyreleases forces which lead to the emergence, development,<strong>and</strong> consolidation of a central bank. Fractional-reserve bankinggives rise to credit expansion, which triggers reversionprocesses in the form of financial crises <strong>and</strong> economic recessions,which in turn inevitably prompt citizens to dem<strong>and</strong>government intervention <strong>and</strong> state regulation of banking.Second, the very bankers involved in the system soon discoverthat they can reduce the risk of insolvency if they makeagreements between themselves, merge or even dem<strong>and</strong> theestablishment of a lender of last resort to provide them withthe liquidity necessary in times of difficulty or to institutionalize<strong>and</strong> officially direct the growth of credit expansion.We can conclude that fractional-reserve banking has beenthe main historical cause of the appearance <strong>and</strong> developmentof the central bank. Hence we must not approach the theoretical<strong>and</strong> practical debate in traditional terms, but in terms oftwo radically different systems: a free-banking system subjectto traditional legal principles (a 100-percent reserve requirement)<strong>and</strong> in which all fractional-reserve operations, whethervoluntarily agreed upon or not, are cracked down on as illegal<strong>and</strong> a breach of public order; <strong>and</strong> a system which permitsas counterfeiters <strong>and</strong> embezzlers who should be crackeddown on by the full majesty of the law. Forced repayment toall the victims plus substantial jail terms should serve as adeterrent as well as to meet punishment for this criminalactivity. (Murray N. Rothbard, “<strong>The</strong> Present State of Austrian<strong>Economic</strong>s,” Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines 6,no. 1 [March 1995]: 80–81; reprinted in Rothbard, <strong>The</strong> Logic ofAction I [Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 1997], p. 165)

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