This article re-examines Illinois free banking from a new perspective: ownership structure. The claim that ownership influenced banking activity and noteholder losses is analyzed, and it is shown that ownership did not have a major impact on asset allocation and losses. Only Chicago residents...

Teaching ‘Economies in Transition' as a study abroad course is the most effective way to convey the role of ideas, institutions, culture, and leadership in the transition of former communist countries. We visited four representative countries in Central and Eastern Europe: Germany, Czech...

A recent study by Kenneth Ng (1988) challenges the view the free banking laws lowered barriers to entry. The authors' study examines bank entry and capital formation in free and nonfree banking states during the free banking period. A competitive model is developed and used to test if barriers...