Monetary reform is any movement or theory that proposes a system of supplying money and financing the economy that is different from the current system.
Fractional-reserve banking is the system of banking operating in almost all countries worldwide, under which banks that take deposits from the public are required to hold a proportion of their deposit liabilities in liquid assets as a reserve, and are at liberty to lend the remainder to borrowers. Bank reserves are held as cash in the bank or as balances in the bank's account at the central bank. The country's central bank determines the minimum amount that banks must hold in liquid assets, called the "reserve requirement" or "reserve ratio". Most commercial banks hold more than this minimum amount as excess reserves.
Full-reserve banking is a system of banking where banks do not lend demand deposits and instead, only lend from time deposits. It differs from fractional-reserve banking, in which banks may lend funds on deposit, while fully reserved banks would be required to keep the full amount of each customer's demand deposits in cash, available for immediate withdrawal.
In economics, the monetary base in a country is the total amount of money created by the central bank. This includes:
The Central Bank of Iceland is the central bank or reserve bank of Iceland. It has served in this capacity since 1961, when it was created by an act of the Alþingi out of the central banking department of Landsbanki Íslands, which had the sole right of note issuance since 1927 and had conducted only limited monetary policy.
Money creation, or money issuance, is the process by which the money supply of a country, or of an economic or monetary region, is increased. In most modern economies, money creation is controlled by the central banks. Money issued by central banks is termed base money. Central banks can increase the quantity of base money directly, by engaging in open market operations. However, the majority of the money supply is created by the commercial banking system in the form of bank deposits. Bank loans issued by commercial banks that practice fractional reserve banking expands the quantity of broad money to more than the original amount of base money issued by the central bank.
The Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT) is an economic theory developed by the Austrian School of economics about how business cycles occur. The theory views business cycles as the consequence of excessive growth in bank credit due to artificially low interest rates set by a central bank or fractional reserve banks. The Austrian business cycle theory originated in the work of Austrian School economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. Hayek won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1974 in part for his work on this theory.
Jesús Huerta de Soto Ballester is a Spanish economist of the Austrian School. He is a professor in the Department of Applied Economics at King Juan Carlos University of Madrid, Spain and a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute.
Modern monetary theory or modern money theory (MMT) is a heterodox macroeconomic theory that describes currency as a public monopoly and unemployment as evidence that a currency monopolist is overly restricting the supply of the financial assets needed to pay taxes and satisfy savings desires. According to MMT, governments do not need to worry about accumulating debt since they can create new money by using fiscal policy in order to pay interest. MMT argues that the primary risk once the economy reaches full employment is inflation, which acts as the only constraint on spending. MMT also argues that inflation can be addressed by increasing taxes on everyone to reduce the spending capacity of the private sector.
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.
The Case Against the Fed is a 1994 book by Murray N. Rothbard criticising the United States Federal Reserve, fractional reserve banking, and central banks in general. It details a history of fractional reserve banking and the influence that bankers have had on monetary policy over the last few centuries.
Pushing on a string is a figure of speech for influence that is more effective in moving things in one direction than another – you can pull, but not push.
Stephen A. Zarlenga was a researcher and author in the field of monetary theory, trader in stock and financial markets, and advocate of monetary reform.
Endogenous money is an economy’s supply of money that is determined endogenously—that is, as a result of the interactions of other economic variables, rather than exogenously (autonomously) by an external authority such as a central bank.
The Chicago plan was a monetary and banking reform program suggested in the wake of the Great Depression by a group of University of Chicago economists including Henry Simons, Garfield Cox, Aaron Director, Paul Douglas, Albert G. Hart, Frank Knight, Lloyd Mints and Henry Schultz. Its main provision was to require 100% reserves on deposits subject to check, so that "the creation and destruction of effective money through private lending operations would be impossible". The plan, in other words, envisaged to separate the issuing from the lending of money. This, according to its authors, would prevent the money supply from cyclically varying as bank loans were expanded or contracted. In addition, the payment system would become perfectly safe. No great monetary contraction as that of 1929-1933 could ever occur again.
Positive Money UK is a not-for-profit advocacy group based in London and Brussels. Positive Money's mission is to promote various reforms of central banks and alternative monetary policy. Its current executive director is geophysicist Fran Boait.
The National Emergency Employment Defense Act, aka the NEED Act, is a monetary reform proposal submitted by Congressman Dennis Kucinich in 2011, in the United States. The bill has failed to gain any co-supporters and was not introduced to the floor of the house.
Ten national referendums were held in Switzerland in 2018. Polling took place on 4 March, 10 June, 23 September and 25 November.
The Swiss sovereign money initiative of June 2018, also known as Vollgeld, was a citizens' (popular) initiative in Switzerland intended to give the Swiss National Bank the sole authority to create money.
The International Movement for Monetary Reform is a worldwide umbrella organization for monetary reform organizations with member organizations in 27 countries, founded in 2013 at the initiative of the British organization Positive Money. Their political goal is to replace the creation of money by bank lending with a system that creates money free of debt.
