MisesWiki:Featured article/Criticism of fractional reserve banking
Criticism of fractional reserve banking and central banking have been put forward from a variety of perspectives, although the most vigorous and sustained criticism now comes from libertarians and anarcho-capitalists such as economists Jesús Huerta de Soto and Jörg Guido Hülsmann, American politician Ron Paul, and commentators such as historian Thomas Woods, Jim Grant of Grant's Interest Rate Observer and former US Budget Director David Stockman. Most in the mainstream (both on the left and right) remain silent on the issue of fractional reserve banking and central banking, although past critics have included mainstream economists such as Irving Fisher, and Milton Friedman. Within the economics profession, most criticisms are from the Austrian School. There are also critics from outside the economics profession who advocate monetary reform. Critics of fractional reserve banking and the related fiat paper monetary system may refer to it by the term debt-based monetary system, or credit-based monetary system. They may also refer to money created in parallel with debt as debt money or endongenous money, reflecting the fact that virtually all new money is currently created by people or businesses or governments further indebting themselves to banks. This monetary system is called "endogenous" because the money supply is flexible, expanding in parallel with the demand for debt and stalling or contracting when demand for debt declines. Some consider this a perverse and dysfunctional way of introducing new money into the economy. (more...)
