Central Banking in a Free Society
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A major new collection of classic IEA papers written by Nobel Laureates
This is now unavailable for purchase A grounbreaking title from the mid-1990s which explores the extent to which market principles can be applied within firms
The Bank of England should be privatised
Congdon argues that the mistakes by the Bank of England arose directly from Gordon Brown’s decision to dismember the Bank in 1997. As a result, the Bank lost all its experience in commercial banking. Furthermore, the government and the Bank were unable to coordinate their actions in the way that had been envisaged by the government when it reformed the Bank of England.
Congdon proposes a radical new settlement. The Bank of England should be privatised; its capital should be provided by the commercial banks; and it should regulate banks as well as providing them with lender-of-last-resort facilities. He shows how this new structure provides just the right incentives to regulate the banking system in a way that will ensure financial stability whilst allowing banks to provide efficient services to the public.
2009, Hobart Paper 166, ISBN 978 0 255 36623 6, 200pp, PB
Further reading:
Verdict on the Crash: Causes and Policy Implications by Philip Booth et al.
Money and Asset Prices in Boom and Bust by Tim Congdon
Keynes, the Keynesians and Monetarism by Tim Congdon