Lawrence H. White
Basic Biography
Lawrence H. White, PhD is the F.A. Hayek Professor of Economic History with the University of Missouri - St. Louis Economics department. He has held this position since 2001 and teaches classes on American Economic History as well as Monetary Theory and Banking. Before coming to UMSL He held a position as Assistant Professor at The University of Georgia in Athens, GA. He is noted for contributing to the body of thought known as the Austrian School. He has extended the critique into analysis of Free Banking in the United States, a period which some dispute as proving that the banking industry was capable of functioning without Federal Government oversight. He and his Co-Author George Selgin have written extensively on this subject and are regarded as among the foremost experts on this subject.
Dr. White's analysis of competitive currency issue in Scotland details history's best case for why there should be private not issue of currency. The sustain history of the Scotish system contradicts the presumption that banking should be considered a public good. The obvious implication being that, in the counterfactual, modern banking systems could function without, for example in the United States, the Government participation in the form of a Federal Reserve.
The Theroy of Monetary Institutions
Dr. White also published a book entitled The Theory of Monetary Institutions. This book lays out in detail a graduate course in Monetary Theory. This analysis, in the tradition of Walter Bagehot's Lombard Street, starts by outlining specific assumptions of Monetary Theory. For example, Using Bagehot's 5 roles of a central bank, this analysis shows hoe each role has been provided by the private market during the course of history. The later part of the book talks about the many issues which have been raised by government participation in the banking industry. With this perspective, many of the problems of modern Macroeconomic theory can be understood as resulting from solving this basic tension.
Dr. White took a position as Assistant Professor at NYC between 1982 and 1988, participating with a group of scholars committed to study of the Austrian School of economic thought. Dr. White's appointment as the F.A. Hayek Chair is a significant recognition of his commitment to free market literature.
Education
- PhD at University of California at Los Angeles (1982)
- AB at Harvard University (1977)
Books
- ISBN 0631212140 The Theory of Monetary Institutions (1999)
- ISBN 0255363753 Free Banking in Britain: Theory, Experience and Debate 1800-1845 (1995)
- ISBN 0814792472 Competition and Currency: Essays on Free Banking and Money (1989)