The Theory of Free Banking: Money Supply Under Competitive Note Issue

Selgin does more than provide a fresh hearing for free banking. By framing monetary questions in the broadest context, he contributes importantly toward the integration of price theory and monetary theory. (The Southern Economic Journal)

It would be hard to recommend this book too highly. It exhibits extensive research, lucid thinking, and some very provocative conclusions. There can be no doubt that some of Selgin’s arguments will be challenged for this is a book that will be hotly debated. Above all, it is essential reading for all monetary and financial theorists. (The Journal Of Economics)

…the importance of Selgin’s contribution should not be underrated….With books such as Selgin’s, there is hope for the future of ideas and our banking system….^IThe Theory of Free Banking^R presents what is probably the most important and challenging statement in the field of money and banking of this century. (The Detroit News)

…written in the style of an excellent teacher who has constant intellectual contact with his students. His audience can be interested laymen as well as professional economists. (Journal of Money)

an ambitious work….It not only employs theory to explore alternative institutions but also enriches the theory itself. (Austrian Economics Newsletter)

^IThe Theory of Free Banking provides a way to escape from the heads-I-win tails-you-lose dilemmas present in current debate about monetary reform. This is solid intellectual nourishment for friends of economic liberty. (Laissez Faire Review^R)

George Selgin develops a forceful argument that the existing regulated banking system based on central bank monopoly note issue should be replaced by an unregulated system in which commercial banks are free to issue bank notes as well as deposits. (Anna J. Schwartz)

George Selgin’s major contribution in this book is to show how competition among completely free, unregulated banks-issuing their own currency-would work, and in my mind he has proven it would be more stable and sound than our current regulatory mess. (Joe Cobb)