Over 50 years ago, In Search of a Monetary Constitution, which focused on the need for constraints on the creation of money by the government, was published. Although overlooked at the time, the work's analysis has proven to be remarkably prescient. This new collection of essays, Renewing the Search for a Monetary Constitution: Reforming Government's Role in the Monetary System, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first edition by revisiting and re-energizing the original intent.
Since the publication of the original book, central banks have delivered neither sound money nor real growth; instead, chronic inflation and a series of booms and busts have prevailed. In this new collection, scholars call for monetary reform centered on the debate over creating constitutional provisions that empower government versus provisions that prohibit government interference with money.
The aim of Renewing the Search for a Monetary Constitution is to revitalize public discussion of constitutional monetary reform. It's a must-read for anyone who wants to change the domination of our monetary system by the government.
Despite their substantial independence and discretionary powers, central banks have generally failed to achieve their goals of maintaining either low and stable inflation or tolerably low unemployment. Many blame monetary discretion for this failure, noting that such discretion tempts central bankers to engage in monetary “fine tuning” that ends up fueling booms and busts, leaving declared objectives to fall by the wayside. Should monetary authorities be reined in by a constitution? If so, how might this be done successfully? The essays in Renewing the Search for a Monetary Constitution, by Lawrence White and others, address these and other crucial questions.
Lawrence H. White
Lawrence H. White is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Prior to his position at George Mason, he was the F. A. Hayek Professor of Economic History in the Department of Economics, University of Missouri-St. Louis. He has been a visiting professor at the Queen's School of Management and Economics, Queen's University of Belfast, and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Professor White is the author of The Theory of Monetary Institutions (Blackwell, 1999), Free Banking in Britain (2nd ed., IEA, 1995), and Competition and Currency (NYU Press, 1989). He is the editor of several works, including The History of Gold and Silver (3 vols., Pickering and Chatto, 2000), The Crisis in American Banking (NYU Press, 1993), African Finance: Research and Reform (ICS Press, 1993), and Free Banking (3 vols., Edward Elgar, 1993). His articles on monetary theory and banking history have appeared in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Literature, the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, and other leading professional journals.
Dr. White earned his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his AB from Harvard University.
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Ekkehard A. Köhler
Ekkehard A. Köhler is a research fellow at the Walter Euken Institut.
Viktor J. Vanberg
Viktor J.Vanberg is Professor of Economics at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He is also the editor of Constitutional Political Economy and the author of several books, including Rules and Choice in Economics.