Comments on: Pascal Salin: Gentleman, Economist, Radical

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 13:04:27 +0000

As long as there is no fraud such as over statement of assets on the part of any party then who cares?

Nobody. But that’s the whole point: the essence of fractional reserve is the overstatement of assets! It is, therefore, necessarily fraud.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:53:23 +0000

Thank you for your fascinating post on Prof. Salin. Salin is probably the most influential Austrian economist in France. Reading his ’00 masterpiece “Liberalisme” completely changed my views on economics and definitely contributed to the expansion of Austrian school ideas in French speaking countries.

By: Nathan Reed

Nathan Reed — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 05:10:25 +0000

It seems Austrians love to create a pretend issue for argumentation when it comes to fractional reserve banking.

Absent gov. or coercive interference it would be a simple issue of ownership and fraud. The market would decide the issue. How do institutions (who says banks are the best or even needed) charge for money handling services of differing types (loans, service fees, investments). As long as there is no fraud such as over statement of assets on the part of any party then who cares? If there is then there is a breach of property rights.

I am always left with the impression that Austrians in this debate are anxious to coerce rather than clarify and resolve the issue.

Perhaps my thinking is shallow (high probability) here but I always come away from studying these discussions feeling like I have just been put through a semantic blender. Someone is then always accused of being or not being “Austrian”.

I would appreciate being enlightened.

By: SÃ©cessionniste

SÃ©cessionniste — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 21:30:17 +0000

I always tended to underestimate the value of Salin’s work until the day when I discovered “MacroÃ©conomie” and his genuine critique of the income effect. I would not say that Salin is a 100 %-Austrian in the proper sense, but more a fractional Austrian. But this does not alter the fact that his book “MacroÃ©conomie” contains probably the best critique of Keynes that I’ve ever read (and I know Hazlitt, Rothbard, etc. )and I strongly encourage the translation of this work. Concerning the refutation of the income effect: I don’t see many people who are able to write such a paper; showing a good understanding of neoclassical economics and Austrian economics at the same time.

By: gene berman

gene berman — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:22:11 +0000

I’m totally ignorant of the man or his thoughts. He’s not justifying fractional reserve banking, is he? That would preclude calling him Austrian.

By: Kenneth R. Gregg

Kenneth R. Gregg — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:36:33 +0000

Jorg,
This is an excellent overview of Salin’s life and works. Thanks very much.
I don’t know if it would be too difficult for the Mises Institute to carry Salin’s works, particularly his work on liberalism, competition, macroeconomics and the upcoming feschrift, but I’m sure that many of the mises.org readers are multilingual and comfortable with the french language. Considering the growth of the Mises Institute and its increased international coverage, it would make sense to have the works of a major continental austrian economist available.
Just a thought.
Just Ken
kgregglv@cox.net
http://classicalliberalism.blogspot.com

By: BBB

BBB — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 05:35:45 +0000

I didn’t know much about him, but have just read Free Banking and Fractional Reserves: A Comment (http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae1_3_7.pdf)

Does anyone have any further comments on this debate (the justification of fractional reserves)?