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

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736 <strong>Money</strong>, <strong>Bank</strong> <strong>Credit</strong>, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Economic</strong> <strong>Cycles</strong>2OUR PROPOSAL FOR BANKING REFORMLogical deduction based on this book’s analysis points to aparticular program of banking reform: on the one h<strong>and</strong>, theinstitutions related to the financial market should be madecontingent on traditional legal principles; <strong>and</strong> on the other, thegovernment agencies which until now have controlled <strong>and</strong>directed the financial system should be eliminated. We believethat in order to establish a truly stable financial <strong>and</strong> monetarysystem for the twenty-first century, a system which protectsour economies as far as possible from crises <strong>and</strong> recessions, thefollowing will be necessary: (1) complete freedom of choice incurrency; (2) a system of free banking <strong>and</strong> the abolition of thecentral bank; <strong>and</strong> most importantly, (3) obligatory observanceof traditional legal rules <strong>and</strong> principles by all agents involvedin the free-banking system, particularly the important principleaccording to which no one may enjoy the privilege of loaningsomething entrusted to him on dem<strong>and</strong> deposit. In short, itis necessary to maintain at all times a banking system whichincludes a 100-percent reserve requirement. We will now discussin greater detail each component of our proposal.TOTAL FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN CURRENCYWe recommend the privatization of currency <strong>and</strong> an endto state <strong>and</strong> central-bank intervention with respect to itsissuance <strong>and</strong> control over its value. This goal requires theincorporates many aspects of the Chicago Plan for a 100-percent reserverequirement. See his “Financial Innovation <strong>and</strong> Deregulation in Perspective,”<strong>Bank</strong> of Japan Monetary <strong>and</strong> <strong>Economic</strong> Studies 3 (1985): 19–29.See also the comments Charles Goodhart makes on Tobin’s proposal ofa 100-percent reserve requirement in his <strong>The</strong> Evolution of Central <strong>Bank</strong>s,pp. 87ff. Tobin seems to follow the tradition of Lauchlin Currie, <strong>The</strong> Supply<strong>and</strong> Control of <strong>Money</strong> in the United States (1934; New York: Russell &Russell, 1968). More recently Alex Hocker Pollock has again defended asimilar banking system in his article, “Collateralized <strong>Money</strong>: An IdeaWhose Time Has Come Again?” Durrell Journal of <strong>Money</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Bank</strong>ing 5,no. 1 (March 1993): 34–38. <strong>The</strong> main disadvantage of Pollock’s proposalis that it indicates reserves should be held not in money, but in assetswith a market value that makes them easy to liquidate.

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