This book discusses contemporary banking and monetary policy issues from the perspective of the Austrian School of Economics. Based on the heritage of the Austrian school, leading scholars and practitioners offer a coherent diagnosis and analysis of the factors leading to Europe's current financial crisis. The first part of the book discusses Ludwig von Mises's and Friedrich August von Hayek's ideas on banking and monetary policy from both historical and economic standpoints. It includes contributions on Austrian monetary dynamics and micro-foundational business cycle theory, von Mises's concepts of liquidity and solvency of fractional-reserve banks, and liberalism of Austrian economics. The second part analyzes the measures taken by the European Central Bank (ECB) in light of the ideas of von Mises and Hayek. It includes contributions on non-neutrality of money, ECB monetary policy, and the future of the ECB. The third and final part presents discussions on monetary reforms, includingcontributions on Bitcoins, Cryptocurrencies and anti-deflationist Paranoia.

Part 1 Mises's and Hayek's ideas on banking and monetary policy from a historical, economic point of view.- Mises's geldtheorie.- Money: Capital good, consumer good, or (media of) exchange good?.- The trend of economic thinking of market and money: What is Hayek's position on the issues?.- Part 2: The measures taken by the ecb considered in the light of ideas of Mises and Hayek.- What is wrong with the 2% inflation standard.- Unintended consequences of ecb policies on Europe's periphery.- The failure of ecb monetary policy from a Mises/ Hayek persepctive.- Hayek and Mises on non-neutrality of money-Implications for monetary policy.- Managing decline by expanding government: The case of Germany.- Part 3: Proposed monetary reforms for the future.- Anti-deflationist paranoia.- The reconsideration of Hayek 's idea on De- nationalization of money: Taking the growing tendency of digital currencies in consideration.- Cryptocurrencies from an austrian perspective.- Blockchain- The new intellectual battleground in economics