[...]It seems clear that the Federal Reserve’s policy behavior overthe 1979:4-1982:3 period (which I refer to as the “earlyVolcker” period) differed from that of other periods.1 Thestated policy of the Federal Reserve during this period was tofocus more on monetary aggregates than it had...

The current discussion about the future of the financial system draws heavily on a set of theories known as the ‘New Monetary Economics’. The New Monetary Economics predicts that deregulation and financial innovation will lead to a moneyless world. This paper uses a market microstructure...

Introduction -- Mesopotamian roots of the modern financial system -- Mesopotamian financial innovations -- Financing ancient Egypt's organizational economy -- Finance and social capital in Classical Greece and Rome -- Justice to altruism: early Judeo-Christian finance -- Islamic finances and the...

The New Monetary Economics predicts that a low-transaction-cost world will be characterised by monetary separation. Current innovations in the payment system seem to bring us closer to such a moneyless world. However, market microstructure theory suggests that transaction costs will not fall to...