FRANK DECKER ON UNSTABLE FREE BANKING AND THE STABLE COMPETITIVE ISSUE OF IRREDEEMABLE CURRENCY: COMMENT

摘要

I was surprised to encounter, in the October 2017 issue of Economic Affairs, Frank Decker's assertion (p. 345) that 'free banking...was subject to well-known instabilities'. Decker offers no evidence in support of this claim. Instead he follows it with references to works by Thornton and Hawtrey that refer to the 'well-known instabilities' of England's banking system. I grant that the English banking system did have well-known instabilities, but the English banking system was also decidedly unfree.