Early Chicago liberal Simons advocated abolishing fractional-reserve banking and heavy wealth redistribution
Evidence
Simons’s “Positive Program” reads today more like a left-leaning attack on corporate prerogatives than anything we might associate with a neoconservative agenda, but in the 1930s it was situated well within the bounds of classical liberalism. After the abolition of corporate monopoly, Simons also proposed the abolition of private deposit banking predicated on fractional reserves; the revision of the tax system to achieve greater equality of wealth and income; and the “Limitation upon the squandering of our resources in advertising and selling activities” (1948, 57). … First and foremost on his reform agenda was “elimination of private monopoly in all of its forms” (1948, 57). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 722
Categorization
- XREF: Simons’s anti-fractional-reserve stance presages later debates between Austrian free-banking and Chicago monetarism; connects to the disagreements within the Mont Pèlerin circle that this book is tracing. — connects to: Implementing genuine Austrian policy would require abolishing fractional reserve banking — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 400; Early Chicago economist Simons backed progressive taxes and corporate breakup — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 106; Free market advocates originally endorsed attacking income inequality at its source — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 422 (+1 more)
- SEED: Good raw material for an essay on how ‘neoliberalism’ as a derogatory label erases reformist origins — the founding neoliberal program included banking abolition and wealth redistribution.
Broader Connections
- Free market advocates originally endorsed attacking income inequality at its source
#corroborates(0.85) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 422 - Postwar market advocates reread Simons and were shocked by his views
#corroborates(0.80) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 107