Suggested reason for a trip to the Old Country.
The Bank of England announced the making of a new £20 banknote which will feature Adam Smith (see here, and here is what The Times says). It will come out in the Spring 2007. It is ironic in some way that the Bank of England features the most
prominent Scottish economist on its notes.
According to Lawrence White’s Free Banking in Britain, Scotland had a free banking system from 1716 (or 1727) until it was suppressed by the Peel Act in 1845. Open-entry with note-issuing rights was given to any bank accepting unlimited liability. The irony is that the Peel Act established a Bank of England monopoly on the right of note issuance, thereby putting an end to (at least some form of) free banking in Scotland¢â¬âa system Adam Smith would probably have endorsed more than a Bank of England monopoly.
A feed from Fred Sautet, the NZ connection at The Austrian Economists.
rafe – just for you and others I visited Adam Smith’s grave the week before last and took a photo.
http://landownunder.blogspot.com/2006/10/adam-smith-grave-swept-clean.html
Francis, if only I had known you were going I would have packed you a lunch for the journey!