Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/259773 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Citation: 
[Journal:] Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics [ISSN:] 2235-6282 [Volume:] 157 [Issue:] 1 [Article No.:] 9 [Publisher:] Springer [Place:] Heidelberg [Year:] 2021 [Pages:] 1-12
Publisher: 
Springer, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
The free-banking history of Switzerland is subdivided into periods with unfettered competition (1826-1881), and strict banknote regulation (1881-1907). This paper suggests that the Federal Banknote Act of 1881 was introduced to remedy the fragmentation of the unfettered-competition period, during which private note-issuing banks were unable to issue standardised paper money. Although the corresponding minimum-reserve and mutual-acceptance rules led to a standardisation, they created new problems. For example, these regulatory interventions reduced the flexibility (or "elasticity") of the paper-money supply. It turned out that a central note-issuing bank is needed to supply adequate amounts of standardised banknotes.
Subjects: 
Central bank
Free banking
Note-issuing bank
Switzerland
JEL: 
E42
N14
N23
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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