Democratizing Money?
Debating Legitimacy in Monetary Reform Proposals

Provides an economic analysis of current, post-crisis monetary reform proposals, including Bitcoin, sovereign money, regional money and Modern Monetary Theory.

Beat Weber (Author)

9781107195813, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 May 2018

284 pages
23.5 x 15.5 x 1.7 cm, 0.52 kg

'This is a well written, informative book, which presents a clear argument about a highly relevant and actual topic.' Christoph Deutschmann, Economic Sociology: The European Electronic Newsletter

A lack of confidence in monetary institutions after the recent financial crash has led to a resurgence of public debate on the topic of monetary reform, reaching a level of political prominence unprecedented since the period after the Great Depression. Whether privatizing money with Bitcoin, regionalizing it with regional currencies, or turning it into a state monopoly with either sovereign money or 'Modern Monetary Theory, the only economic utopians able to draw public attention in our post-crash world seem to be monetary reformers. Weber provides the first proper economic analysis of these modern monetary reform proposals, exposing their flaws and fallacies through critical examination. From academics studying the political economy of finance to economic sociologists studying financial institutions, this book will appeal to scholars and students interested in monetary reform proposals and the viability of alternative currency systems, and more broadly, readers seeking a contemporary understanding of what money is and how it works today.

1. What makes money legitimate?
2. Current monetary systems
3. The political economy of monetary reform
4. Bitcoin
5. Regional money
6. Sovereign money
7. Modern Monetary Theory
8. Money and democracy in perspective.

Subject Areas: Banking [KFFK], Finance [KFF], Political economy [KCP], Macroeconomics [KCB]