After a successful inaugural offering in 2018, the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute is pleased to announce that Alternative Money University – our 3-day academic workshop for students interested in monetary economics – is coming back in July 2019. As followers of…
Having considered, in two previous essays, the origins, legality, and adverse consequences of the Scottish bank suspension, we're now ready to ask whether, and in what ways, that episode compels us to reconsider the virtues of free banking, both as practiced in Scotland and in general. If…
(Originally appeared as George Selgin's first-ever post in Alt-M's predecessor blog freebanking.org.) *** Free bankers have been fighting a war on two fronts. On one they face champions of central banking and managed money. On the other they struggle against advocates of 100-percent reserve banking. Although the…
In my opening post about Scottish banks' suspension of specie payments, I explained that, although the suspension was technically illegal, it failed to provoke any lawsuits in part because it was no less in the interest of many Scottish citizens, and Scottish bank creditors especially, than it…
(Today we celebrate the great Walter Grinder’s 80th birthday by reposting our tribute to him on his 75th.) Walter E. Grinder turns 75 years old today [80 now!]. He is the former CEO of the Institute for Humane Studies and President Emeritus of the Institute for Civil…