F. A. Hayek Professor of Economic History
Department of Economics
SSB 408
University of Missouri - St. Louis
8001 Natural Bridge Road
St. Louis, MO 63121

phone: 314/ 516-6129
fax: 314/ 516-5352
lwhite@umsl.edu

Education
Ph. D., Economics, University of California at Los Angeles, 1982
M. A., Economics, University of California at Los Angeles, 1980
A. B. (magna cum laude), Economics, Harvard University, 1977

Principal teaching and research areas
Economic history, monetary theory, monetary policy, money and banking, history of economic thought

Fellowships, visitorships, honors
Visiting Professor, MSc Finance program, School of Management and Economics, Queen's University of Belfast
Visiting scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 1998, 1999, 2000
Howard T. McMyler Memorial Annual Lecture, Department of Economics, Case Western Reserve University, 1997
Kamerschen-Hampton biannual Award for Outstanding Research in Economics, University of Georgia Terry College of Business, 1992
George Edward Durell Foundation Fellow, 1990-91
John M. Olin Foundation Faculty Research Fellow, 1988-90
Visiting Fellow, Department of Economic History, Faculty of Economics and Commerce, Australian National University (Canberra, ACT, Australia), Aug-Sept. 1989

Previous Employment
Professor, University of Georgia, Department of Economics, 1998-2000
Associate Professor, University of Georgia, Department of Economics, 1988-98
Assistant Professor, New York University, Department of Economics (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), 1982-88
Post-doctoral Fellow, New York University, Department of Economics, 1981-82

Books Authored

The Theory of Monetary Institutions. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1999. Pp. xiv+269. Hardcover and paperback.
Chinese translation, Beijing: China Renmin University Press, forthcoming.

Free Banking in Britain: Theory, Experience, and Debate, 1800-1845, 2nd ed., revised and enlarged. London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1995. Pp. xiii+176. Paperback.
1st edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Chapter 2 (revised) reprinted in Kevin Dowd, ed., The Experience of Free Banking (London: Routledge, 1992).
Chapter 5 reprinted in Michael Collins, ed., Central Banking in History (Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar, 1993).

Competition and Currency: Essays on Free Banking and Money. New York: New York University Press, 1989. Pp. ix+260. Paperback edition, 1992.
Contains 13 of the published articles listed below.
 

Books Edited

The History of Gold and Silver, 3 vols., editor and introduction. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2000. Pp. xxxiii + 249+267+231.

The Crisis in American Banking, editor and introduction. New York: New York University Press, 1993. Pp. vii+174. Paperback edition, 1994.

Free Banking, 3 vols., editor and introduction. Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar, 1993. Pp. xxii+378+343+397.

African Finance : Research and Reform, editor and introduction. San Francisco: ICS Press, 1993. Pp. xvi+460.

William Leggett, Democratick Editorials: Essays in Jacksonian Political Economy, editor and foreward. Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1984. Pp. xix + 410.
 

Shorter Monographs

Do We Need a Reserve Bank? by Lawrence H. White et al. St. Leonards, NSW, Australia: Centre for Independent Studies, 1990. Lead essay (17 pp.) and responses (5 pp.) to other contributors' comments.

The Methodology of the Austrian School Economists, 2nd ed. Auburn, AL: Mises Institute of Auburn University, 1984. Pp. 40. (1st ed., 1977)
 

Articles and Communications in Refereed Journals

"In What Respects Will the Information Age Make Central Banks Obsolete?," Cato Journal (forthcoming).

"Is Nonprice Competition in Currency Inefficient?: A Reply to Sumner" (with Donald J. Boudreaux), Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 32 (February 2000): 150-53.

"The Methodology of Human Action" [Comment on Vernon Smith, "Reflections on Human Action After 50 Years"], Cato Journal 19 (Fall 1999): 211-14.

"Why Didn't Hayek Favor Laissez Faire in Banking?," History of Political Economy 31 (Winter 1999): 753-769.

"Hayek's Monetary Theory and Policy: A Critical Reconstruction," Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 31 (February 1999): 109-20.

"A Fiscal Theory of Government's Role in Money" (with George Selgin), Economic Inquiry 37 (January 1999): 154-65.

"The Effect of the Designated Hitter Rule on Hit Batsmen: Pitcher's Moral Hazard or the Team's Cost-Benefit Calculation? A Comment" (with Gregory A. Trandel and Peter G. Klein), Economic Inquiry 36 (October 1998): 679-84.

"Is Nonprice Competition in Currency Inefficient?" (with Donald J. Boudreaux), Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 30 (May 1998): 252-60.

"Can Monetary Stabilization Policy be Improved by CPI Futures Targeting?: A Comment" (with Roger W. Garrison), Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 29 (November 1997): 535-41.

"The Option Clause in Scottish Banking: A Comment" (with George Selgin), Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 29 (May 1997): 270-73.

"Money and the Invisible Hand: A Correction" (with George Selgin), Journal of Economic Literature 34 (March 1996): 124-5.

"In Defense of Fiduciary Media -- Or, We are Not Devo(lutionists), We are Misesians!" (with George Selgin), Review of Austrian Economics 9 (1996): 83-107.

"Is There an Economics of Interpersonal Comparisons?," Advances in Austrian Economics 2a (1995): 135-51.

"How Would the Invisible Hand Handle Money?" (with George A. Selgin), Journal of Economic Literature 32 (December 1994): 1718-49.
Reprinted in David E. W. Laidler, ed., The Foundations of Monetary Economics (Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1999). Also reprinted in Peter J. Boettke, ed., The Intellectual Legacy of Friedrich von Hayek, vol. 3 (Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 2000) pp. 362-393.
Awarded the 1996 Smith Center prize for best publication in Austrian economics.

"Monetary Reform and the Redemption of National Bank Notes, 1863-1913" (with George A. Selgin), Business History Review 68 (Summer 1994): 205-43.

"Which Kind of Monetary Policy, If Any?: Comment on Hoskins," Cato Journal 13 (Fall 1993): 191-200.

"What Has Been Breaking U. S. Banks?," Critical Review 7 (Spring-Summer 1993): 321-34. [essay-review]

"Free Banking in Scotland: Reply to a Dissenting View," Cato Journal 10 (Winter 1991): 809-19.

"Competitive Monetary Reform: A Review Essay," Journal of Monetary Economics 26 (August 1990): 191-202.

"Scottish Banking and the Legal Restrictions Theory: A Closer Look," Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 19 (November 1990): 526-36.

"Competition or Cartelization Among European Currencies?: Comment on Salin," Cato Journal 10 (Fall 1990): 377-80.

"Restoring an 'Altered' Menger" History of Political Economy 22 (1990 annual supplement, Carl Menger and his Legacy in Economics, ed. Bruce Caldwell): 349-58.

"Laissez-Faire Monetary Theorists in Late Nineteenth Century America" (with George A. Selgin), Southern Economic Journal 56 (January 1990): 774-87.

"Laissez-Faire Monetary Thought in Jacksonian America" (with George A. Selgin), Perspectives on the History of Economic Thought 4 (1990): 20-39. [Annual volume of selected papers from the History of Economics Society meetings]

"What Kinds of Monetary Institutions Would a Free Market Deliver?," Cato Journal 9 (Fall 1989): 367-91.

"Alternative Perspectives on the Cashless Competitive Payments System," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 11 (Spring 1989): 378-84.

"Toward an International Fiat Standard?: Comment on Cooper," Cato Journal 8 (Fall 1988): 339-46.
Reprinted in James A. Dorn and William A. Niskanen, eds., Dollars, Deficits, and Trade (Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989): 135-42.

"Competitive Monies and the Suffolk Bank System: Comment" (with George A. Selgin), Southern Economic Journal 55 (July 1988): 215-19.

"Accounting for Non-Interest-Bearing Currency: A Critique of the Legal Restrictions Theory of Money," Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 19 (November 1987): 448-56.

"The Evolution of a Free Banking System" (with George A. Selgin), Economic Inquiry 25 (July 1987): 439-57.
Reprinted in Kurt R. Leube, ed., Die Österreicheische Schule der Nationalökonomie, Band 2: von Hayek bis White [The Austrian School of Economics, vol. 2: Hayek to White] (Vienna: Manz, 1996).

"Competitive Payments Systems: Reply," American Economic Review 76 (September 1986): 850-53.

"Regulatory Sources of Instability in Banking: Comment on Rolnick and Weber," Cato Journal 6 (Winter 1986): 891-97.

"Economics and Nuisance Law: Comment on Manson," Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 8 (Winter 1985): 213-23.

"William Leggett: Jacksonian Editorialist as Classical Liberal Political Economist," History of Political Economy 18 (Summer 1986): 307-24.

"Competitive Payments Systems and the Unit of Account," American Economic Review 74 (September 1984): 699-712.
Reprinted in Kevin D. Hoover, ed., The New Classical Macroeconomics (Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar, 1992); also in Christopher M. James and Clifford W. Smith, eds., Studies in Financial Institutions (Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill, 1996).

"Bank Failures and Monetary Policy: Comment on Vaubel," Cato Journal 4 (Spring/Summer 1984): 269-74.

"Competitive Money, Inside and Out," Cato Journal 3 (Spring 1983): 281-99.
Reprinted in James A. Dorn and Anna J. Schwartz, eds., The Search for Stable Money: Essays on Monetary Reform (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987): 339-57.
 

Contributions to Edited Volumes

"Globalization and the Gold Standard," in Richard M. Ebeling, ed., Globalization [Vol. 29 of Champions of Freedom, The Ludwig von Mises Lecture Series] (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, forthcoming).

"Global Financial Markets, the Lender of Last Resort Role, and the IMF," in Ian Vasquez, ed., Global Fortune: The Stumble and Rise of World Capitalism (Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2000): 241-56.

"Commentary," in Otmar Issing, Hayek, Currency Competition and European Monetary Union (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2000): 39-47.

"Foreward" (in Czech translation) to F. A. Hayek, Denationalisation of Money, Czech ed. (Prague: Liberalni Institut, 1999): 10-14.

"Monetary Nationalism Reconsidered," in Kevin Dowd and Richard H. Timberlake, eds., Money and the Nation-State(New York: Transaction Publishers, 1998): 377-401.

"The Technology Revolution and Monetary Evolution," in James A. Dorn, ed., The Future of Money in the Information Age (Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 1997): 15-20.
Italian translation in Dorn, ed., Il Futuro Della Moneta, trans. A.Zanini (Milan: Feltrinelli, 1998).

"Banking School, Currency School, and Free Banking School"; "Gilbart, James William (1794-1863)"; "Mushet, Robert (1782-1828)"; and "Parnell, Henry Brooke (1776-1842)" in David Glasner, ed., Business Cycles and Depressions: An Encyclopedia (New York: Garland, 1997): 47-9, 262-3, 472-3, 520-21.

"National Bank Notes as a Quasi-High-Powered Money" (with George A. Selgin), in George Edward Durell Foundation, Money and Banking: The American Experience (Fairfax, VA: George Mason University Press, 1995): 169-99.

"Why is the U. S. Banking System in Trouble?," in Lawrence H. White, ed., The Crisis in American Banking (New York: New York University Press, 1993): 7-28.

"Separating Bank and State in Africa," in Lawrence H. White, ed., African Finance: Research and Reform (San Francisco: ICS Press, 1993): 411-25.

"Competing Money Supplies," in David R. Henderson, ed., The Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics (New York: Warner Books, 1993): 347-51

"Free Banking: History" (with Kurt Schuler), in John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman, eds., The New Palgrave Dictionary of Money and Finance (New York: Stockton Press, 1992).

"Afterword: Appraising Austrian Economics: Contentions and Misdirections," in Bruce J. Caldwell and Stephan Boehm, eds., Austrian Economics: Tensions and New Directions (Boston: Kluwer, 1992): 257-68.

"Mises on Free Banking and Fractional Reserves," in John W. Robbins and Mark Spangler, eds., A Man of Principle: Essays in Honor of Hans F. Sennholz (Grove City: Grove City College Press).

"Banking Without a Central Bank: Scotland Before 1844 as a 'Free Banking' System," in Forest Capie and Geoffrey Wood, eds., Unregulated Banking: Chaos or Order? (London: Macmillan, 1991): 37-62.

"Money and Capital in Economic Development: A Retrospective Assessment," in Steve Hanke and Alan A. Walters, eds., Capital Markets and Development (San Francisco: ICS Press, 1991): 65-99.

"Commentary: Norms for Monetary Policy," in Richard M. Ebeling, ed., Austrian Economics: Perspectives on the Past and Prospects for the Future (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 1991): 465-80.

"Depoliticizing the Supply of Money," in Thomas Willett, ed., Political Business Cycles: The Political Economy of Money, Inflation, and Unemployment (Durham: Duke University Press, 1988): 301-19.

"Problems Inherent in Political Money Supply Regimes: Some Historical and Theoretical Lessons," in Thomas Willett, ed., Political Business Cycles: The Political Economy of Money, Inflation, and Unemployment (Durham: Duke University Press, 1988): 460-78.

"Foreward" to George A. Selgin, The Theory of Free Banking: Money Supply Under Competitive Note Issue (Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1988).

"Privatization of Financial Sectors," in Steve H. Hanke, ed., Privatization and Development (San Francisco: ICS Press, 1987): 149-60.
Spanish translation: "La Privatizacion de los Sectores Financieros," in Hanke, ed., Privatizacion y Desarrollo (Juarez, Mexico: Editorial Trillas, 1989).
An earlier version appeared in Economic Affairs 6 (August/September 1986): 38-42.

"A Subjectivist Perspective on the Definition and Identification of Money," in Israel M. Kirzner, ed., Subjectivism, Intelligibility, and Economic Understanding (New York: New York University Press, 1986): 301-14.

"Free Banking and the Gold Standard," in Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., ed., The Gold Standard (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1985): 111-26.

"Introduction" to Carl Menger, Investigations into the Method of the Social Sciences with Special Reference to Economics (New York: New York University Press, 1985): vii-xviii.

"Free Banking as an Alternative Monetary System," in Barry N. Siegel, ed., Money in Crisis: The Federal Reserve, the Economy, and Monetary Reform (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1984): 269-302.

"Fix or Float? The International Monetary Dilemma," in Elizabeth Elmore, ed., Annual Editions: Macroeconomics 84/85 (Guilford, CT: Dushkin, 1984): 193-97.
Reprinted from Inquiry (November 1983): 30-34.
Also reprinted in Reuben Slesinger and Glen Beeson, eds., Annual Editions: Economics 85/86 and Annual Editions: Economics 86/87.

"Mises, Hayek, Hahn, and the Market Process: Comment on Littlechild," in Israel M. Kirzner, ed., Method, Process, and Austrian Economics (Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1982): 103-110.

Book Reviews in
Economica 57 (February 1990): 135-7.
History of Political Economy 25 (Winter 1993): 763-5.
Independent Review 4 (Winter 2000):
Journal of Economic History 57 (September 1997): 762-3; also 53 (March 1993): 202-3.
Journal of Economic Literature 38 (December 2000): 951-953; also 36 (June 1998): 960-1; 34 (December 1996): 1944-5; 28 (June 1990): 664-5; 25 (December 1987): 1875-6.
Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 152 (June 1996): 419-22.
The Manchester School of Economics 58 (December 1990): 427-8.

Work in Progress
"Credible Currency: The Commitment Problem in Private and Central Banking" (with George Selgin), under submission.
"Mengerian Perspectives on The Future of Money" (with George Selgin), under revision.
"Does a Superior Monetary Standard Spontaneously Emerge?", under revision
The Origins of Wire Transfer
Editorship of The Pure Theory of Capital volume in The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek.

Professional Activities and Institutional Affiliations:
Co-editor (with Mario J. Rizzo) of The Foundations of the Market Economy, a book series published by Routledge (London and New York).
    21 titles published to date.
Summer seminar faculty, Institute for Humane Studies
Faculty, Advanced Summer Seminar in Austrian Economics co-sponsored by the NYU Austrian Economics Program and FEE
Visiting faculty, FEE - Universidad Francisco Marroquin (Guatemala) advanced economics seminar
Associate Editor, Review of Austrian Economics
Editorial board member, Cato Journal
Contributing editor, Ideas on Liberty (Foundation for Economic Education)
Adjunct scholar, Cato Institute
Adjunct scholar, Project on Global Economic Liberty (Cato Institute)
Academic Advisory Council, Institute of Economic Affairs (London)
Board of Academic Advisors, Foundation for Economic Education (Irvington-on-Hudson, NY)
Advisory Council, Fundación Friedrich A. von Hayek (Buenos Aires)
Referee for more than a dozen journals and academic publishers

Current references available on request.