Supporters of full reserve banking.

  This list of supporters of full reserve banking, i.e. opponents of private banks creating their own money, is simply an extended version of a similar list I set out on this blog in October last year.

That is, the first ten people (down to Maurice Allais) are reproduced from the latter article, while the remaining three people are additions.

Josiah Stamp, director of the Bank of England in the 1920s: 



"The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding sleight of hand that was ever invented...".

Irving Fisher, professor of political economy at Yale in the early 1900s: 

"We could leave the banks free . . . to lend money as they pleased provided we no longer allow them to manufacture the money which they lend."

(Fisher's book, "100% Money and the Public Debt", p.15)

Josiah Stamp: "If you want to continue to be slaves of the banks and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money...".

Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times:

See his Financial Times article entitled "Strip private banks of their power to create money."

As for why a system has not been set up where private banks are barred from money creation, Milton Friedman's explanation was:

"The vested political interests opposing it are too strong, and the citizens who would benefit, both as taxpayers and as participants in economic activity, are too unaware of its benefits and too disorganised to have any influence."

(Friedman's book, "A Program for Monetary Stability" Ch.3.)

James Tobin (Nobel economist):

“Deposit insurance is a delegation to private enterprises of the government's sovereign right to coin money.”

 
Tobin opposed the right of private banks to create money, and his above point was that absent deposit insurance, liabilities issued by private banks are essentially in the nature of shares: those liabilities can lose much or all their value. But once an insurer with an infinitely deep pocket insures the liabilities (i.e. government), those liabilities effectively become money, since (like dollar bills or £10 notes) they cannot lose value (inflation apart).  The above quote is from his work “The Case for Preserving Regulatory Distinctions”.

Felix Martin: see his book "Money the Unauthorised Biography", last chapter in particular. 

Laurence Kotlikoff, economics prof in Boston, USA. See his book "The Economic Consequences of the Vickers Commission". (Free online)

Joseph Huber, chair of economic and environmental sociology at Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. 

See his book "Sovereign Money Beyond Reserve Banking".




This review of the book says "The concluding part of this book is dedicated to . . . advocating a move towards the sovereign monetary prerogatives of issuing the entire stock of official money and benefitting from the gain thereof (seigniorage). The author argues that these functions should be made the sole responsibility of independent and impartial central banks with full control over the stock of money (not the uses of money).....". 

Maurice Allais (Nobel economist). 


Ronnie Phillips's paper "Credit Markets and Narrow Banking" (Levy Economics Institute working paper No.77), starts, "Maurice Allais's view, share by others, that the credit created by fractional reserve banking is the equivalent of counterfeiting has led to recommendations for reform of the financial system to separate the depository and lending functions of banks."

 John Cochrane. Economics prof in Chicago. In his paper “Towards a run-free financial system”, Cochrane says “demand deposits, fixed-value money-market funds, or overnight debt must be backed entirely by short-term Treasuries.”

David Ricardo (1772 – 1823). See his "Plan for the Establishment of a National Bank" half way down here.


Ricardo suggests a committee of “commissioners” very similar to Positive Money’s committee of economists (independent from politicians). Plus Ricardo refers to banning money creation by what he calls “county banks”) – i.e. banks other than the Bank of England.







 
Giovanni Dolfin - died July 1361.  Fifty seventh Dodge of Venice. See article by Edward Fuller entitled "100% Banking and its Advocates: a Brief History" published by the Cobden Centre for more details on Dolfin and others from that era, and indeed much earlier: going back to Ancient Rome and Greece. 

David Hume (1711-1776). See the article by Edward Fuller mentioned just above for details on Hume.