Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“With regard to the long-running debate between Rothbardians and modern free bankers, most prominently Lawrence White and George Selgin, the question is less a matter of technical disagreements than one regarding fundamentally divergent conceptions of money, law, and the nature of banking itself. At stake is not merely the historical interpretation of Scottish or British banking, but the deeper question of whether fractional-reserve banking can ever be reconciled with a genuinely free and non-fraudulent market order. … As Rothbard illustrated in his comprehensive review of White’s book at the time, the narrative advanced by White rests on two claims that can be shown to be false: first, that Scottish banking operated as a genuinely free system, independent of central banking influence; and second, that this system exhibited superior stability and performance. Both propositions collapse under closer scrutiny.” (04/29/26)