We survey the theories of why banks promise to pay par on demand and examine evidence about the conditions under which banks have promised to pay the par value of deposits and banknotes on demand when holding only fractional reserves. The theoretical literature can be broadly divided into four...

Intervention has taken different forms in different countries and periods of time. Moreover, the high interconnection of financial institutions makes the (implicitly or explicitly) promise of no intervention made by governments barely credible. Moreover, it is largely claimed that these...