Allameh Tabataba’i University Strategic Recommendations for  Administrative Bodies

Allameh Tabataba’i University Strategic Recommendations for Administrative Bodies

Creation of Credit Money in the Banking System and an Investigation of Its Jurisprudential Legitimacy

Author
Department of Islamic Economy, Allameh Tabataba'i University
Abstract
The creation of credit money by commercial banks within the framework of fractional reserve banking, as one of the most significant factors contributing to macroeconomic instability and distributive inequality, necessitates a simultaneous economic and jurisprudential reevaluation. Through the extensive generation of liquidity, this approach increases the risk of aggravating inflation and collapsing the monetary system under conditions of economic recession and weak production, while limiting the central bank's control over the money supply. Empirical evidence indicates that the greater the distance of the banking system from a one-hundred-percent reserve and the higher the ratio of liquidity to the monetary base, the higher the level of inflation; consequently, the role of credit creation in inflation and monetary instability becomes prominent. From a jurisprudential perspective, the primary dispute manifests at two levels: first, the ambiguity surrounding the nature of "bank credit" and whether credit creation is merely a conventional credit practice akin to individual credit in the market or constitutes the "presumption of the existence of non-existent wealth"; second, the evaluation of its legitimacy in light of distributional effects and its attribution to the authority of sovereignty. While some viewpoints accept legitimacy subject to public interest determination and sovereign oversight, another perspective considers it an instance of consuming wealth through unjust means (akl-i mal bi-al-batil). Proposed strategies emphasize strengthening the independence and authority of the central bank, gradually increasing the legal reserve ratio, controlling the money-creation capacity of banks and interest-free loan funds (qard al-hasan funds), and readjusting the ratio of the monetary base to liquidity with the objective of curbing inflation and preserving the value of currency.
Keywords