Lectures on History of Monetary Thought through the eyes of the Classics: Pedro Schwartz

The Institute of International Monetary Research (IIMR, https://mv-pt.org/) is delighted to announce a series of four lectures on money, banking and central banking by our colleague, Professor Pedro Schwartz (IEA and IIMR fellow), in collaboration with the Vinson Centre for Liberal Economics and Entrepreneurship: History of Monetary Thought through the eyes of the Classics.

Please, find the link to the programme below for further details on the topics that will be addressed and the days of the lectures, all in the summer term (July 16th , 17th and 31st and August 1st, 17:15 – 18:30 hrs. University of Buckingham, UK):  https://mv-pt.org/pedro-schwartz-gives-four-lectures-on-the-history-of-monetary-thought-through-the-eyes-of-the-classics/.

The nature of the topics to be covered in the lecture series is very much interdisciplinary. One of our main aims at the IIMR is to show the need to incorporate historical and institutional analysis in the understanding of money and banking, as well as the decisions made by central banks nowadays. We are delighted and very privileged to have an excellent speaker to address these topics; as detailed in his bio (https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/directory/professor-pedro-schwartz/ ), he has a very comprehensive background in Economics and Humanities and a vast experience in the teaching of these topics in several universities; he also has experience in policy-making as a former member of the staff of a national central bank and a former advisor to the ECON Committee of the European Parliament, among other institutions.  

Those interested in attending the lectures please RSVP Gail Grimston at gail.grimston@buckingham.ac.uk.

We look forward to welcoming you all to the IIMR and the Vinson Centre at the University of Buckingham very soon.

Juan C.
Dr Juan Castaneda
Director, Institute of International Monetary Research
University of Buckingham, Hunter Street Campus, Buckingham, MK18 1EG, UK
00 44 (0)1280827548
Juan.castaneda@buckingham.ac.uk
http://www.mv-pt.org/

Pedro Schwartz gives four lectures on the History of Monetary Thought through the eyes of the Classics

By Prof. Pedro Schwartz (IIMR, IEA fellow) 

B. Ll., Dr. Iuris (Madrid), MSc. Econ., PhD. (LSE) 

Pedro Schwartz’ s bio available at: https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/directory/professor-pedro-schwartz/

• 16^th July – 1^st August (selected days, see programme below). At the University of Buckingham (Vinson Building, Hunter street campus. Buckingham, MK18 1EG
• Event open to the public. RSVP gail.grimston@buckingham.ac.uk
• The lectures will be recorded and made available to the public afterwards on the IIMR YouTube channel

What the lectures will cover

The institution of money is not at the centre of the research programmes of mainstream macroeconomics. In most models proposed by the profession money is inserted as an afterthought – if at all. This contrasts with the importance generally attributed to financial and monetary institutions when analysing the political economy of crashes such as the Great Recession and its aftermath. History can help remedy this contradiction. Since money is such an abstract institution the same problems recur across time and place, so that the study of past and present monetary theories will turn out to be surprisingly relevant in the present moments of perplexity.

Programme and Lectures’ topics

16^th July; 17:15 – 18:30.

Lecture 1. – The institution of money. – Two theories about the origin of money: the reduction of the transaction costs of barter (Carl Menger); or the recording of debt and its cancellation (New Chartism, Knapp 1905, Lerner 1947). – Narrow and broad money. – Adam Ferguson: the emergence of institutions. – Fractional reserve and Bank money. The money multiplier. – Network goods: Digital currencies.

17th July; 17:15 – 18:30.

Lecture 2. – The ‘Quantity Theory’. –  Azpilcueta, Bodin, Cantillon, Hume, Smith, Fisher, Cambridge England, Friedman. – The problem of small change. – Thornton’s Paper Credit. – Developments:  bank notes; deposits. – Theories of inflation: Keynes v.Friedman. – Monetarism. – Expectations and velocity: adaptive (Friedman) and rational (Muth, Lucas). – Heresies: money and growth (the Phillips curve); debt and growth (‘Modern Monetary Theory’).

31^st July; 17:15 – 18:30.

Lecture 3. – Money in an open economy. – Hume and the self-regulating specie flow model. – The gold standard: problems: bimetallism. – David Ricardo and Bullionism. -The controversy around Scottish Free Banking. – The Currency School v. the Banking School. – J.S. Mill’s half-way house; monetary competition. – Keynes’s Tract and the management of fiat money. Keynes at Bretton Woods. – Lender of last resort. – Friedman on flexible exchange rates. – Harry Johnson’s monetary theory of the balance of payments. – Mundell’s impossibility triangle.

1^st August; 17:15 – 18:30

Lecture 4. –  Central banking. – Central banks and government. – Thornton’s 1802 Paper Credit. – Ricardo’s Economical and Secure Currency (1816). – Robert Peel’s 1844 Act. -J.S. Mill on central banking.  – Walter Bagehot’s Lombard Street. – Rules or discretion: Milton Friedman on central banking. – Robert Lucas’s critique of macroeconomic models. – Monetary or fiscal policies; the new Keynesians. – Tim Congdon: Money supply and nominal GDP. – Hayek on the privatisation of money.