Free Banking in Britain:  Theory, Experience, and Debate, 1800-1845, 2nd ed. (revised and enlarged)
 

Publisher's back-jacket text:

Since the first (1984) edition of Lawrence H. White's pioneering work, Free Banking in Britain, the literature on free banking has expanded considerably.  In this second edition, the author has not only revised the text (especially Chapter 2), he has added a new chapter which incorporates a revised version of a reply to his critics first published in 1991.
    The result is a significantly revised and updated edition of a book about privately issued currency which has taken on new relevance with the advent of directly transferable 'smartcard' balances.

"Larry White's Free Banking in Britain is one of those books that alter forever one's view of the history of monetary policy, the role of central banks, and indeed the need to regulate banking at all.  Is banking really different from ordinary goods and services?  I do no know whether White's argument will stand the test of time but I do know that we will go back to this book again and again whenever we consider the case for free banking."
                                                                            Professor Mark Blaug, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
 

SUMMARY CONTENTS

Preface to the First Edition
Acknowledgements
Preface to the Second Edition

1. A Theory of Free Banking
2. Free Banking in Scotland Before 1844
3. Challenges to the Free Banking View of Scottish Experience
4. The Free Banking Question in the British Monetary Controversies, 1800-1845
5. Theoretical Issues in the Free Banking Controversy
6. The Relevance of Free Banking Today

Bibliography
Index

Cover design by Margo Reeves

Reviews

• A review by Jim Powell