Chris Silber: "Free versus Regulated Banking"

Once again bank failures and talk of financial crisis are in the news with politicians and journalists calling for yet more stringent bank regulations. But would it surprise you to know history’s most regulated banking systems have been the most crisis-prone while the freest banking systems have been virtually crisis free?

In this presentation Chris Silber discusses the most consequential regulations from three centuries of banking in the United States, England, Scotland, and Canada—with decidedly contrasting results. During Scotland's free banking era of 1716-1845 England endured at least ten financial crises while Scotland experienced none. And during Canada's free banking era of 1817-1935 the United States endured at least thirteen financial crises, including the beginning of the Great Depression, while Canada also experienced none. The discussion will focus on the "why" behind such wide financial divergences between countries that share the same borders, language, and comparable cultures.

You may never view the Federal Reserve Board and it's control of the US Dollar the same again.

-------

Please join the Mont Hamilton/Bastiat Society to hear and interact with Chris Silber on this very timely and important topic.

This meeting will be in-person for no more than 12 individuals only.

---------------------------------------

Chris Silber is a Bay Area IT consultant who has previously spoken at the Mont Hamilton/Bastiat Society. He also blogs on economics and has presented locally on subjects including prospects for U.S. inflation, gold-based monetary standards, and the Great Depression. Recently Chris completed a two-year series of articles on free banking in Great Britain and North America. He credits the work of Professors George Selgin and Lawrence H. White, AIER presenters themselves, for inspiring his interest in and work to document free banking history.

**********

About the Mont Hamilton Society - In 1947 Friedrich Hayek, an economist and social philosopher who later won the Nobel Prize, organized a meeting at Mt. Pelerin, a resort in Switzerland. Hayek convened a modest sized group of (39) economists, historians, philosophers and journalists for the purpose of supporting research and discussion on the role of markets vs. government. The Mont Pelerin Society is now a large and prestigious international organization.

In 2009, a group of friends began to meet in San Jose for the purposes of improving their understanding of economic theory, applying it to current events and sharing their understanding with others as well as promoting a joyous sense of camaraderie. In recognition of the example set by the Mont Pelerin Society, they decided to name their group the Mont Hamilton Society. Members understand the realities of the business world, share an interest in economic thinking, and value civil discourse from a variety of perspectives. Faculty and students from the Department of Economics at San Jose State University are frequent guests at Society meetings. In June 2017 the Mont Hamilton Society became the San Jose/Silicon Valley affiliate chapter of the Bastiat Society, an AIER project, hence our new name: Mont Hamilton/Bastiat Society. See our webpage for more information: https://www.aier.org/bastiatsociety/san-jose

There are no membership fees or organizational meetings at this time.

If you would like to be on our invitations list, or know someone else who might like to receive notice of our 7 - 10 (or more - during pre-covid years) luncheons or other events per year, or if you have any questions, please send an email to:

san-jose@bastiatsociety.com

You or your suggested contact(s) will receive an announcement/invitation and a reminder or two for each event as they are scheduled, or a prompt answer to your question/s.

These events are discussions, not standard lectures. To facilitate this, the in-person gatherings before Covid Lockdowns were kept "small," typically 12 - 24 individuals only. Some presentations are video recorded, depending on demand. Constructive feedback on our event formatting and interest in recordings is welcome, since we are continuing to evolve our meeting formats.

Thank you for your interest.