The institutional features of models of unregulated monetary systems have often been arbitrarily and implausibly assumed. This pap er instead provides realistic grounding for important features by con structing a logical evolutionary account of free banking. Sophisticat ed and orderly...

As an alternative to market failure explanations, the authors draw on theory and historical evidence to argue that fiscal considerations explain the roles governments typically play in producing and regulating money. Public monopoly production of coins and banknotes, substitution of fiat for...

Brian L. Goff, William F. Shughart, and Robert D. Tollison (1997) attribute the American League's higher hit-batsman rate since 1973 to moral hazard: pitchers who no longer bat no longer face retaliation. The authors argue that retaliation is more efficiently directed at sluggers than at...