Daily Archives: December 22, 2013

Essays in Monetary Theory and Policy: On the Nature of Money (3)

By Jack Wendland*

Neoclassical economics has largely relegated money to the role of neutral medium of exchange.  A closer, more historical look at money reveals that, from the beginning, money has always been credit offset by debt, not a medium of exchange.  Although the acceptability of money follows a clear-cut hierarchy, the process by which money is created remains the same for all parties.  Running contrary to the mainstream narrative, this vision of money as credit has important implications for the fiscal policy of any state that issues its own currency.

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