Monday, August 25, 2014

Musgrave on 100% reserves

In a comment on an earlier post, Ralph Musgrave pointed to his interesting new paper on 100% reserve banking.

I haven't read the paper yet, but I love the Table of contents, reproduced partially below.

The name "narrow Banking" or "full reserve banking" needs improvement. It's really very wide banking -- so long as the banking is funded by equity or long-term debt. To say "narrow" is almost a fallacy in itself, and perpetuates the fallacy that bank lending will dry up. Maybe "Equity financed banking" or "full reserve deposit taking" would be better. Can anyone think of a name that is both sexy and accurate?

Musgrave's Fourty-four fallacies regarding full reserves:

Section 2: Flawed arguments against FR. .............................. 36
1. FR limits the availability of credit? ................................................................. 36
2. Central bank money is not debt free?............................................................ 38
3. Bank capital is expensive for tax reasons?.................................................... 38
4. FR means the end of banks?......................................................................... 39
5. Central banks will still have to lend to commercial banks? ............................ 39
6. FR stops banks producing money from thin air which can fund investments?... 41
7. Investments under FR might not be viable? .................................................. 41
8. FR will not reduce pleas by failing industries to be rescued by government? 42
9. The cost of converting to FR will be high?..................................................... 42
10. Central bank committees won’t be politically neutral? ................................... 42
11. Administration costs of FR would be high?.................................................... 44
12. The cost of current accounts will rise under FR?........................................... 44
13. FR is dependent on demand injections? ....................................................... 45
14. The effect of FR on inflation and unemployment is unclear?......................... 45
15. FR would drive business to the unregulated sector?..................................... 46
16. The state cannot be trusted with peoples’ money?........................................ 46
17. Vested interests would oppose FR?.............................................................. 47
18. FR will reduce innovation by banks? ............................................................. 48
19. Deposit insurance and lender of last resort solves banking problems?......... 48
20. Lenders will try to turn their liabilities into “near-monies”? ............................. 49
21. Anyone can create money, thus trying to limit money creation is futile?........ 50
22. Advocates of FR are concerned just with retail banking? .............................. 51
23. Central banks will still have to lend to commercial banks? ............................ 39
24. It wasn’t just banks that failed in 2008: also households became overindebted?...........................................................................................................52
25. Creation of liquidity / money is prevented?.................................................... 53
26. Funding via commercial paper would be more difficult under FR? ................ 54
27. FR is nearly the same as monetarism? ......................................................... 54
28. There is no demand for safe or warehouse banks?....................................... 55
29. FR would cause a stampede to safe accounts? ............................................ 56
30. FR would raise the cost of funding banks?.................................................... 56
31. Fractional reserve is not fraudulent? ............................................................. 57
32. FR will not stop boom and bust? ................................................................... 58
33. Bank shareholders will demand a high return to reflect their uncertainty about
what a bank actually does? ................................................................................. 60
34. FR reduces commercial bank flexibility? ....................................................... 60
35. FR would not stop bank runs?....................................................................... 61
36. Vickers’s flawed criticisms of FR. .................................................................. 61
37. Regulating loans is better than FR? .............................................................. 68
38. FR doesn’t insure against liquidity shocks?................................................... 69
39. Government couldn’t produce enough money under FR? ............................. 70
40. FR prevents all lending?................................................................................ 70
41. Banks will try to circumvent FR rules?........................................................... 72
42. Converting to FR involves a huge bailout of existing banks? ........................ 72
43. The Money Creation Committee would not regulate demand accurately? .... 75
44. Interest rate gyrations would be larger under FR?......................................... 76

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