Money as mumeraire: doctrinal aspects and contemporary relevance
At the beginning of the twentieth century, most economists took it for granted that the primary function of money is its role as a medium of exchange and that moneyshould consist of, or be backed by, gold, or silver, or both. This paper discusses three writers--Alexander Del Mar, Georg Knapp, and J...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Associazione Economia civile
2012-04-01
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| Series: | PSL Quarterly Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/psl_quarterly_review/article/view/9873 |
| _version_ | 1811172397253918720 |
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| author | Joseph Aschheim George S. Tavlas |
| author_facet | Joseph Aschheim George S. Tavlas |
| author_sort | Joseph Aschheim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
At the beginning of the twentieth century, most economists took it for granted that the primary function of money is its role as a medium of exchange and that moneyshould consist of, or be backed by, gold, or silver, or both. This paper discusses three writers--Alexander Del Mar, Georg Knapp, and John Maynard Keynes--who took a different tack. By endeavouring to explain what money is, they focused on the capacity of money to have value. In so doing, they gave primacy to the unit-of-account function of money and originated the theory of chartalism. We show that the primacy placed on the numeraire by those writers provides insights into present-day analyses of general equilibrium, neutral money, business cycles, and currency-area formation.
JEL Codes: E40
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T17:30:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-902e98c172da47a88304f3697a1b0471 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2037-3635 2037-3643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T17:30:26Z |
| publishDate | 2012-04-01 |
| publisher | Associazione Economia civile |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PSL Quarterly Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-902e98c172da47a88304f3697a1b04712023-02-03T16:48:28ZengAssociazione Economia civilePSL Quarterly Review2037-36352037-36432012-04-015923910.13133/2037-3643/9873Money as mumeraire: doctrinal aspects and contemporary relevanceJoseph AschheimGeorge S. Tavlas At the beginning of the twentieth century, most economists took it for granted that the primary function of money is its role as a medium of exchange and that moneyshould consist of, or be backed by, gold, or silver, or both. This paper discusses three writers--Alexander Del Mar, Georg Knapp, and John Maynard Keynes--who took a different tack. By endeavouring to explain what money is, they focused on the capacity of money to have value. In so doing, they gave primacy to the unit-of-account function of money and originated the theory of chartalism. We show that the primacy placed on the numeraire by those writers provides insights into present-day analyses of general equilibrium, neutral money, business cycles, and currency-area formation. JEL Codes: E40 https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/psl_quarterly_review/article/view/9873Money |
| spellingShingle | Joseph Aschheim George S. Tavlas Money as mumeraire: doctrinal aspects and contemporary relevance PSL Quarterly Review Money |
| title | Money as mumeraire: doctrinal aspects and contemporary relevance |
| title_full | Money as mumeraire: doctrinal aspects and contemporary relevance |
| title_fullStr | Money as mumeraire: doctrinal aspects and contemporary relevance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Money as mumeraire: doctrinal aspects and contemporary relevance |
| title_short | Money as mumeraire: doctrinal aspects and contemporary relevance |
| title_sort | money as mumeraire doctrinal aspects and contemporary relevance |
| topic | Money |
| url | https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/psl_quarterly_review/article/view/9873 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT josephaschheim moneyasmumerairedoctrinalaspectsandcontemporaryrelevance AT georgestavlas moneyasmumerairedoctrinalaspectsandcontemporaryrelevance |