Simple sum monetary aggregate has long been questioned by theory and practice. The reforms of the measure of money initiated half century ago have not yet achieved ideal goal. In this paper, the author questions the theoretical ground of the reforms, discusses philosophy and economics principles...

The authors investigate the extent to which monetary policy can enhance the functioning of the private credit system. Specifically, they characterize the optimal return on money in the presence of credit arrangements. There is a dual role for credit: It allows buyers to trade without fiat money...

When agents are liquidity constrained, two options exist - sell assets or borrow. We compare the allocations arising in two economies: In one, agents can sell government bonds (outside bonds) and in the other they can borrow (issue inside bonds). All transactions are voluntary, implying no...

We study the effects of money (anticipated inflation) on capital formation. Previous papers on this adopt reduced-form approaches, putting money in the utility function or imposing cash in advance, but use otherwise frictionless models. We follow a literature that is more explicit about the...

David Hume's monetary theory has two standard yet inconsistent readings. As a forefather of the quantity theory of money, Hume sees money as neutral. As an inflationist, Hume sees an active positive role for monetary policy. This paper reads Hume consistently instead, by showing that for Hume...

We describe counterfeiting activity as the issuance of private money, one which is difficult to monitor. Our approach, which amends the basic random-matching model of money in mechanism design, allows a tractable welfare analysis of currency competition. We show that it is not efficient to...

When agents are liquidity constrained, two options exist - borrow or sell assets. We compare the welfare properties of these options in two economies: in one, agents can borrow (issue inside bonds) and in the other they can sell government bonds (outside bonds). All transactions are voluntary,...

While the mainstream long argued that the central bank could use quantitative constraints as a means to controlling the private creation of money, most economists now recognize that the central bank can only set the overnight interest rate - which has only an indirect impact on the quantity of...

This chapter summarizes the case for considering money as a legal institution. The Western liberal tradition, represented here by John Locke’s iconic account of money, describes money as an item that emerged from barter before the state existed. Considered as an historical practice, money is...

In the modern lexicon, money is pure instrumentality, a colorless medium that transparently expresses real value. Contrary to that trope, however, we can get “inside” money: we can reconnoiter it as a structure entailing value that is engineered by certain societies. Taking a...