You have here a unique academic treatise on money and banking, a book which combines erudition, clarity of expression, economic theory, monetary theory, economic history, and an appropriate dose of conspiracy theory. Anyone who attempts to explain the mystery of banking—a deliberately contrived mystery in many ways—apart from all of these aspects has not done justice to the topic. But, then again, this is an area in which justice has always been regarded as a liability. The moral account of central banking has been overdrawn since 1694: “insufficient funds.” [footnote: P. G. M. Dickson. The Financial Revolution in England: A Study in the Development. | The Mystery of Banking Murray N. Rothbard The Mystery of Banking Murray N. Rothbard Richardson & Snyder 1983 First Edition The Mystery of Banking ©1983 by Murray N. Rothbard Library of Congress in publication Data: 1. Rothbard, Murray N. 2. Banking 16th Century-20th Century 3. Development of Modern Banking 4. Types of Banks, by Function, Bank Fraud and Pitfalls of Banking Systems 5. Money Supply. Inflation 1 The Mystery of Banking Murray N. Rothbard Contents Chapter I Money: Its Importance and Origins 1 1. The Importance of Money 1 2. How Money Begins 3 3. The Proper Qualifies of Money 6 4. The Money Unit 9 Chapter II What Determines Prices: Supply and Demand 15 Chapter III Money and Overall Prices 29 1. The Supply and Demand for Money and Overall Prices 29 2. Why Overall Prices Change 36 Chapter IV The Supply of Money 43 1. What Should the Supply of Money Be? 44 2. The Supply of Gold and the Counterfeiting Process 47 3. Government Paper Money 51 4. The Origins of Government Paper ,Money 55 Chapter V The Demand for Money 59 1. The Supply of Goods and Services 59 2. Frequency of Payment 60 3. Clearing Systems 63 4. Confidence in the Money 65 5. Inflationary or Deflationary Expectations 66 Chapter VI Loan Banking 77 Chapter VII Deposit Banking 87 1. Warehouse Receipts 87 2. Deposit Banking and Embezzlement 91 2 The Mystery of Banking Murray N. Rothbard 3. Fractional Reserve Banking 95 4. Bank Notes and Deposits 103 Chapter VIII Free Banking and The Limits on Bank Credit Inflation 111 Chapter X Central Banking: Determining Total Reserves 143 1. The Demand for Cash 143 2. The Demand for Gold 149 3. Loans to the Banks 150 4. Open Market Operations 154 Chapter XI Central Banking: The Process of Bank Credit Expansion 163 1. Expansion from Bank to Bank 163 2. The Central Bank and the Treasury 171 Chapter XII The Origins of Central Banking 179 1. The Bank of England 179 2. Free Banking in Scotland 185 3. The Peelite Crackdown, 1844-1845 187 Chapter XIII Central Banking in .
