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HERBERT SPENCER’S CASE FOR FREE BANKING
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2021
Abstract
Though now almost entirely forgotten, Herbert Spencer was among the most widely read thinkers during the late nineteenth century. As part of his system of synthetic philosophy, Herbert Spencer addressed the topics of money and banking. This philosophic system articulates a concept of justice based on the principle of equal freedom. Invoking this principle, Spencer rejected a government-superintended regime of money and banking as unjust. Instead, he morally favored a system of free banking. Spencer also defended this system on economic grounds. His argument was that banks could be self-regulating in their management of the money supply, on the condition that the government limit its activities in the financial sphere to the enforcement of contracts. While Spencer’s case is not beyond questioning on philosophic and political grounds, he offers a distinctive and forceful analysis.
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Footnotes
I would like to thank David Howden (Saint Louis University, Madrid) for his helpful suggestions upon reading an earlier version of this article. I would also like to acknowledge the blind reviewers for their insightful comments and recommendations.
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