"
"
following the success of the first edition of Dinero,
Crédito Bancario y Ciclos Económicos, which sold out
rapidly, I am pleased to present the second edition to
Spanish-speaking readers. To avoid confusion and facilitate
the work of scholars and researchers, the contents, struc-
ture, and page numbering of the first edition have been
maintained in the second, though the book has been thor-
oughly examined and all misprints detected have been
eliminated.
In the wake of a decade marked by great credit expan-
sion and the development of a large financial bubble, the
course of economic events in the world from 1999 through
2001 was characterized by the collapse of stock-market val-
ues and the emergence of a recession which now simultane-
ously grips the United States, Europe, and Japan. These cir-
cumstances have left the analysis presented in this book
even more clearly and fully illustrated than when it was first
published, at the end of 1998. While governments and cen-
tral banks have reacted to the terrorist attack on New York’s
World Trade Center by manipulating interest rates, reducing
them to historically low levels (1 percent in the United
States, 0.15 percent in Japan and 2 percent in Europe), the
massive expansion of fiduciary media injected into the sys-
tem will not only prolong and hinder the necessary stream-
lining of the real productive structure, but may also lead to
Crédito Bancario y Ciclos Económicos, which sold out
rapidly, I am pleased to present the second edition to
Spanish-speaking readers. To avoid confusion and facilitate
the work of scholars and researchers, the contents, struc-
ture, and page numbering of the first edition have been
maintained in the second, though the book has been thor-
oughly examined and all misprints detected have been
eliminated.
In the wake of a decade marked by great credit expan-
sion and the development of a large financial bubble, the
course of economic events in the world from 1999 through
2001 was characterized by the collapse of stock-market val-
ues and the emergence of a recession which now simultane-
ously grips the United States, Europe, and Japan. These cir-
cumstances have left the analysis presented in this book
even more clearly and fully illustrated than when it was first
published, at the end of 1998. While governments and cen-
tral banks have reacted to the terrorist attack on New York’s
World Trade Center by manipulating interest rates, reducing
them to historically low levels (1 percent in the United
States, 0.15 percent in Japan and 2 percent in Europe), the
massive expansion of fiduciary media injected into the sys-
tem will not only prolong and hinder the necessary stream-
lining of the real productive structure, but may also lead to
dangerous stagflation. In light of these worrisome economic
conditions, which have repeated themselves since the emer-
gence of the current banking system, I fervently hope the
analysis this book contains will help the reader to under-
stand and interpret the phenomena which surround him and
will exert a positive influence on public opinion, my univer-
sity colleagues and economic-policy authorities in govern-
ment and central banks.
Various reviews of this book’s first edition have
appeared, and I am grateful to the eminent authors of them
for their many positive comments.1A common denomina-
tor among all has been to urge the translation of this book
into English, a task now complete. It is my hope that, God
willing, the first English edition of this book will soon be
published in the United States and will thus become avail-
able to some of the most influential academic and political
circles.
Finally, since 1998 this manual has been employed suc-
cessfully as a textbook during the semester devoted to the
theory of money, banking, and business cycles in courses on
Political Economy and in Introduction to Economics, first at
the law school of Madrid’s Universidad Complutense and
later at the school of law and social sciences of the Universi-
dad Rey Juan Carlos, also in Madrid. This educational expe-
rience has been based on an institutional and decidedly mul-
tidisciplinary approach to economic theory, and I believe this
method can be easily and successfully applied to any other
course connected with banking theory (Economic Policy,
Macroeconomics, Monetary and Financial Theory, etc.). This
experience would not have been possible without the keen
interest and enthusiasm hundreds of students have
expressed each academic year as they studied and discussed
the teachings contained in the present volume. This book, to
xxxviii
Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles
1I am particularly grateful to Leland Yeager (Review of Austrian Econom-
ics 14 no. 4 [2001]: 255) and Jörg Guido Hülsmann (Quarterly Journal of
Austrian Economics 3, no. 2 [2000]: 85–88) for their remarks.
conditions, which have repeated themselves since the emer-
gence of the current banking system, I fervently hope the
analysis this book contains will help the reader to under-
stand and interpret the phenomena which surround him and
will exert a positive influence on public opinion, my univer-
sity colleagues and economic-policy authorities in govern-
ment and central banks.
Various reviews of this book’s first edition have
appeared, and I am grateful to the eminent authors of them
for their many positive comments.1A common denomina-
tor among all has been to urge the translation of this book
into English, a task now complete. It is my hope that, God
willing, the first English edition of this book will soon be
published in the United States and will thus become avail-
able to some of the most influential academic and political
circles.
Finally, since 1998 this manual has been employed suc-
cessfully as a textbook during the semester devoted to the
theory of money, banking, and business cycles in courses on
Political Economy and in Introduction to Economics, first at
the law school of Madrid’s Universidad Complutense and
later at the school of law and social sciences of the Universi-
dad Rey Juan Carlos, also in Madrid. This educational expe-
rience has been based on an institutional and decidedly mul-
tidisciplinary approach to economic theory, and I believe this
method can be easily and successfully applied to any other
course connected with banking theory (Economic Policy,
Macroeconomics, Monetary and Financial Theory, etc.). This
experience would not have been possible without the keen
interest and enthusiasm hundreds of students have
expressed each academic year as they studied and discussed
the teachings contained in the present volume. This book, to
xxxviii
Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles
1I am particularly grateful to Leland Yeager (Review of Austrian Econom-
ics 14 no. 4 [2001]: 255) and Jörg Guido Hülsmann (Quarterly Journal of
Austrian Economics 3, no. 2 [2000]: 85–88) for their remarks.
which they have dedicated their efforts, is chiefly aimed at
them, and I thank all of them. May they continue to cultivate
their critical spirit and intellectual curiosity as they progress
to higher and increasingly enriching stages in their forma-
tive journey.2
Jesús Huerta de Soto
Madrid
December 6, 2001
2Comments on this second edition are welcome and may be sent to
huertadesoto@dimasoft.es.
them, and I thank all of them. May they continue to cultivate
their critical spirit and intellectual curiosity as they progress
to higher and increasingly enriching stages in their forma-
tive journey.2
Jesús Huerta de Soto
Madrid
December 6, 2001
2Comments on this second edition are welcome and may be sent to
huertadesoto@dimasoft.es.
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