The politics of money : towards sustainability and economic democracy / Frances Hutchinson, Mary Mellor and Wendy Olsen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hutchinson, Frances, 1941-

Contributor:

Mellor, Mary.

Olsen, Wendy Kay.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Monetary policy.

Capitalism.

Money.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

On the whole, classical and radical economists have marginalised the role of money, most particularly the role of credit, in driving the machinery of accumulation and exclusion. Although critiques of capitalism from Marxist, feminist, ecological and many other perspectives abound, The Politics of Money is unique in gathering the strengths of these differing critiques into a coherent whole. The authors have drawn upon their varied expertise in economics and the social sciences to produce the foundations of a new political economy that will enable communities to reconstruct their socio-economic fabric through social and political control of money systems. The book opens with a review of the role of money in current society, an overview of the history of money creation and a critique of the main theoretical developments in economic thought. Alternative perspectives on money are then presented through a review of a number of radical perspectives but focusing mainly on the work of Marx, Veblen and the social credit perspective of Douglas and the guild socialists. In the final part of the book contemporary monetary theories and experiments are analysed within the theoretical and historical perspectives provided in the earlier chapters. The main argument of the book is that it is necessary to understand the crucial role of finance in driving the 'free market' economy if a democratic and sustainable economy is to be achieved.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Preface

1 The Money Society

Money and society

Globalisation and finance

The limits of money

Money and economics

Vogon economic theory

Wider solutions for specific problems

Mapping a way forward

Outline of the book

2 Why is There No Alternative?

Economics as normal science

Classical and neo- classical schools of economic thought

Basic assumptions of orthodox economics

The abstraction of economic systems

The role of money in the circular flow

The elimination of time in the circular flow model

Capital's non-existence in the circular flow

Alternatives and variants

The flawed logic of orthodox approaches

The problem of growth

Chrematistics or oikonomics? Production or provisioning?

There is an alternative

3 Money, Banking and Credit

Money in history

Does money have a natural value?

Origins of banking and credit

John Law and banking as money creation

The evolution of the debt- based money economy

Money as debt/ credit

Credit and the velocity of money

How banks multiply money

Fractional reserve banking

The evolution of the money creation process

4 Capitalism - The Elimination of Alternatives

Characteristics of capitalism

Property as enclosure

Enclosing knowledge and skills

The capitalist market

Marx, money and value

The political construction of the capitalist market

Enforcing the free market on a global scale

Challenging the market

5 Marx, Veblen and the Critique of the Money/ Market System

Marx's legacy

Thorstein Veblen's institutional perspective

Class, work and waged labour

Work as transformation

6 Guild Socialism and Social Credit

From labourism to social credit

The origins of social credit

Douglas and social credit

The Draft Mining Scheme.

The case for socialisation of credit

Douglas' A+ B theorem and the flawed circular flow model

7 Institutional Critiques of Capitalist Finance

The credit basis of capitalism

The headquarters of the capitalist system

National dividend

Reclaiming the common cultural inheritance

The utility of work versus the disutility of labour

Personal income and the utility of labour

Sufficiency and economic democracy

8 New Critiques: Green Economics and Feminist Economics

Ecology and economics

Environmental or ecological economics?

Ecology and food provisioning: from soil cultivation to soil mining

Socially responsible finance

Women and economics: the marginalisation of women

Rethinking the economy

Re-visioning cash purchases as social relations

9 New Ways of Thinking About Money and Income

Local currency and exchange systems

Local money

Mutual credit systems

LETS schemes

Basic (or citizen's) income

Producer banks the example of Mondragon

Sufficiency and financial independence

Jubilee 2000

Micro- credit

Linking practice with theory

10 Towards Sustainability and Economic Democracy

Money as a social phenomenon

Monetary reform

From waged labour to social credit

Sufficiency and subsistence

The good ship TINA

A new vision

Bibliography

Index

Adams, John

13

165

agribusiness

95 -6

171

agriculture

7 -8

167 -9

anti-globalisation movement

24

70

77

95

210

anti-trust laws 92 -3

Argentina

9

54

191

Aristotle

42

49

61

86

111

Arizmediarrietta, José Maria

131

195 -6

Athanasiou, Tom 159 -60

Bangaladesh

119

202 -3

Bank of England

56

64

banks/banking

55 -7

63 -8

143

145 -6

209

215

216 -17

ethical 172 -3

Barataria initiatives 188 -9.

barter

11

31

32

33

82

85

basic income

162

192 -5

221

Basic Income European Network [BIEN] 192

Belloc, Hilaire 127

Bennholdt-Thomsen, Veronika

77 -8

223

224

Bentham, Jeremy 26

Berry, Thomas 197

Bhaduri, Amit 117

Blair, Tony 2 -3

bookkeeping money 65 -6

Booth, David

160

163

164

Brennan, Teresa 165

Brohman, John 182

Buchan, James

15

50

52

56 -7

58

59 -60

Cahn, Edgar 186

capital

34 -5

179

181

finance 111 -13

finance 144 -5

finance 178

finance 179

finance 205

social 9

social 177 -8

social 219

capitalism

71 -2

81 -4

90 -4

107 -9

142 -6

alternatives to 17

alternatives to 71 -4

alternatives to 97

alternatives to 123 -41

alternatives to 208

alternatives to 220

alternatives to 222

alternatives to 226 -9

and democracy 18

and democracy 59 -60

and democracy 70

and democracy 107

and environmental accounting 163

and environmental accounting 166

control of means of production 14 -15

control of means of production 37

control of means of production 72 -3

control of means of production 84

control of means of production 96

control of means of production 98

Carchedi, Guglielmo 32

Carney, Diana 177 -8

Carson, Rachel

8

158

Chesterton, G.K. 127

chrematistics

42 -3

circular flow model

25 -6

142 -3

218

227

alternatives to 35 -9

and capital 34 -5

and capital 144

and Douglas' A+B theorem 128

and Douglas' A+B theorem 138 -41

and time 33 -4

role of money in 31 -3

role of money in 59

citizenship 2 -3

Clark, John Bates 112

class relations

114 -21

Cobb, John B. Jr. 40 -1

Cole, G.D.H.

104

128

147

149 -50.

commodity fetishism

82 -3

commons

77 -80

Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] 171 -2

consumerism

emulative 104

emulative 114 -15

emulative 121

emulative 135

green 158

Cooke, Bill 205 -6

corporations, and political power

91

92 -4

113

166

credit

3 -5

55 -64

67

116

and prices 145 -6

real and financial 132 -4

socialisation of 134

crop rotation 168

cultural inheritance

80

147 -9

155

222

Curitiba, Brazil 186

currency

international 218

speculation 54 -5

Da Corta, Lucia 118

Daly, Herman

40 -1

161

162 -3

debt cancellation 201 -2

debt-based economy

165 -6

evolution of 60 -1

evolution of 67

democracy

18

107

development

41

135 -6

158 -60

205

Diamond, Peter 23

distributism

127

196

Dodd, Nigel 212

Dominguez, Joe 197 -200

Douglas, Clifford H.

97

126 -30

134 -7

149

151

153 -4

221 -2

A+B theorem 138 -41

A+B theorem 214

and producer/consumer banks 194

and producer/consumer banks 195

Douthwaite, Richard

172

185

186

187

214 -15

Dow, Sheila 22 -3

Draft Mining Scheme

129

130 -4

137

156

Dugger, William 93 -4

ebcu [energy-backed currency units] 218

eco-taxes

193

ecological economics

2

22

157 -73

223 -4

ecological sustainability

1

208

219

222 -3

economic democracy

1 -2

72

150

and social credit 125

and social credit 128

and social credit 146

and social credit 155.

and social credit 194 -5

control over means of subsistence 73

control over means of subsistence 98 -9

control over means of subsistence 225 -6

economics

abstracted model 30 -1

abstracted model 43

and reality 44 -6

and social sciences 209 -10

as natural system 22

as natural system 23

as natural system 25

as natural system 54

as natural system 88

as natural system 99

as natural system 211

classical school 23

classical school 25 -6

equilibrium 12 -13

equilibrium 26

equilibrium 27

equilibrium 28 -9

equilibrium 32

equilibrium 36

linear theorising 16 -17

methodological individualism 29 -30

methodological individualism 39

orthodoxy 21 -30

orthodoxy 39 -43

rethinking 178 -83

scientific study of 211 -12

Ehrlich, Paul 158

Ekins, Paul

43

Elgin, Duane 197

enclosure

73

74 -80

Engels, Friedrich 106

Ethical Investment &amp

Research Information Service [EIRIS] 172

export credit schemes

134

136

Fabians/Fabianism

102

124

125

126 -7

154

220

Farmers' Markets 172

Feiner, Susan 45

feminist economics

30

45

173 -8

financial independence [FI] 197 -200

Fine, Ben

Fisher, Irving 185

food

locally produced 170 -2

mass production 169

processing 154

security 7 -8

Foucault, Michel 210

Foville, A. de 50

fractional reserve banking

64 -6

Frank, Thomas 70

free market

90

94 -6

freedom

17 -18

25

59

96

212

225 -6

Freeman, Alan

36 -7

83 -4

Friedman, Milton 27

Friedmann, Harriett 167 -8

Funtowicz, Silvio 165

Galbraith, John K.

63

garden economics 170.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade [GATT].

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-241) and index.

ISBN:

9781849641104

1849641102

OCLC:

654106252