Lawrence H. White is Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. He previously taught at New York University, the University of Georgia and the University of Missouri, St Louis. Best known for his work on monetary thought and alternative monetary institutions, his books include Free Banking in Britain, 2nd edition (2009), The Theory of Monetary Institutions (1999) and Competition and Currency (1992) and he has edited six other volumes primarily in finance and financial history. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal and in leading economics journals such