Money demand under free banking: Switzerland 1851–1906

This paper studies money demand in Switzerland under free banking before the establishment of the Swiss National Bank. We find that, in addition to income, the banks’ balance-sheet-to-GDP ratio and the number of banks were important determinants of long-run money demand. The former variable also played an important role in the monetary adjustment process. We also detect a strong positive long-run impact of real income on the bank’s balance-sheet-total-to-GDP ratio and a strong long-run influence of real income and the interest rate spread on the number of banks.