Money and its Origins Routledge International Studies in Money and Banking Series

The concept of the origin of money has been a topic of interest and discussion to almost all schools of economic thought. However, in spite of minor differences of interpretation, most views share an underlying core principal about the rise and origin of money, implicit in which is the central belief that barter exchange preceded the money economy.

This new book offers a challenge to this belief, and argues that it is only by making this challenge that we will be in the position to accurately trace the roots of money. In an ambitious undertaking, the book has gathered and classified the major theories of the origin of money and assessed each at length, before presenting an innovative, alternative theoretical framework for the formation and the rise of money. It blends the objections made against the principal explanations of the origins of money and presents a terminological clarification between what can or cannot be classified as money.

This study has wide-ranging implications, in terms of both the operation of the economy and the implementation of monetary policy, and will be of interest to all those working in the areas of finance, monetary economics, economic theory and the history of economic thought.

Chapter I: Introduction Chapter II: Money as a Discovery or an Invention Chapter III: Division of Labour and Production of Surplus Products Chapter IV: Initiation of Money from the Act of Exchange Chapter V: The Exchange in Kind versus the Exchange against a Medium Chapter VI: The Origin of Money and the Most Marketable Good Chapter VII: Money is Originated from its Functions Chapter VIII: Money as a Creation of Debt Payment or a Creature of the State Chapter IX: Inherent Difficulties of the Barter System and the Origin of Money Chapter X: The Nature and the True Origin of Money Conclusion Chapter XI: Conclusion

Shahzavar Karimzadi is Senior Lecturer in Economics at London Metropolitan University, UK