The establishment would have us believe that a world without central banks would be 'like all the worst parts of the bible', but as Professor Lawrence White notes, as failures among central banking systems mount, it is time to reconsider the alternative of free banking. Private banks would be able to circulate money by issuing notes and checks redeemable for coin. Trustworthy banks would make arrangements to accept each other's notes and checks. Banks would have better incentives than the federal government to ensure their currency retained its value, because if it didn't, people would bank elsewhere. By contrast, White notes, central banks controlled by the government are able to devalue currency as they see fit and can even quit redeeming notes for coins of real value if they want to do so. It sounds like social-science fiction, but there are numerous real-world examples in history of successful free-banking systems.



