The book is devoted to a comprehensive examination of the central institution of the modern economic order - fractional reserve banking with the central bank and the role of this institution in periodically repeating economic cycles. The author analyzes this problem from legal, historical and economic points of view. The first three chapters cover the legal and historical aspects of fractional reserve banking. Chapters 4–7 explain in detail how the violation of universal legal principles by fractional reserve banking inevitably leads to credit expansion and the boom-bust cycle. Here Huerta de Soto sets out and develops the approach of the Austrian economic school (L. Mises, F. Hayek, M. Rothbard). Chapter 8 examines the theories behind the need for a central bank and the permissibility of fractional reserve banking. In the concluding chapter 9 of the book, the author discusses the problem of reforming the modern monetary system based on a combination of fiat money and fractional reserve banking under the control of the central bank, presenting his own plan. The book is written for educated non-specialists in simple non-technical language, one might say “ on fingers". The author constantly repeats the conclusions obtained in previous chapters, not allowing the reader to forget about them, which significantly contributes to the understanding of the logic of the presentation.