Kumhof, Michael.

The Chicago Plan Revisited Michael Kumhof. [electronic resource] / Michael Kumhof. - Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2012. - 1 online resource (71 p.) - IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 12/202 . - IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 12/202 .

At the height of the Great Depression a number of leading U.S. economists advanced a proposal for monetary reform that became known as the Chicago Plan. It envisaged the separation of the monetary and credit functions of the banking system, by requiring 100% reserve backing for deposits. Irving Fisher (1936) claimed the following advantages for this plan: (1) Much better control of a major source of business cycle fluctuations, sudden increases and contractions of bank credit and of the supply of bank-created money. (2) Complete elimination of bank runs. (3) Dramatic reduction of the (net) public debt. (4) Dramatic reduction of private debt, as money creation no longer requires simultaneous debt creation. We study these claims by embedding a comprehensive and carefully calibrated model of the banking system in a DSGE model of the U.S. economy. We find support for all four of Fisher's claims. Furthermore, output gains approach 10 percent, and steady state inflation can drop to zero without posing problems for the conduct of monetary policy.

1475505523 : 18.00 USD

1018-5941

10.5089/9781475505528.001 doi


100% Reserve Banking
Bank Capital Adequacy
Bank Lending
Boom-Bust Cycles
Chicago Plan
Chicago School of Economics


Ireland
United States

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