Unregulated and regulated free banking: The case of Switzerland reinterpreted

Arbeitspapier

The free-banking history of Switzerland is commonly subdivided into a period with unfettered competition (1826 - 1881) and strong banknote regulation (1881 - 1907). This paper suggests that unrestricted competition between private note-issuing banks gave rise to a fragmented paper-money system, which suffered from a lack of standard- ised, and commonly accepted, banknotes. Minimum-reserve requirements and mutual- acceptance rules were introduced to standardise banknotes. Rather than overissuing, these regulatory interventions restricted the exibility (or "elasticity") of the paper-money supply. It turned out that a central note-issuing bank was needed to supply adequate amounts of standardised banknotes.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: Working Paper ; No. 19.06

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Monetary Systems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System; Payment Systems ; Economic History: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations: Europe: 1913- ; Economic History: Financial Markets and Institutions: Europe: Pre-1913
• Thema: central bank ; free banking ; note-issuing bank ; Switzerland

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Herger, Nils
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Swiss National Bank, Study Center Gerzensee
• (wo): Gerzensee
• (wann): 2019

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/224159
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ