From: clyder@GN.APC.ORG
Date: Wed Jun 02 2004 - 10:44:41 EDT
A good sourse is Bolins book on the state and currency in the Roman empire, gives a good account of the origin of coinage.That dates back at least to the 60s. Polanyi's book on Trade and Markets in Early empires is good. The most recent summary of the historical literature is in Ingham's book, 'The Nature of Money' Quoting Costas Lapavitsas <cl5@SOAS.AC.UK>: > Can I ask on what historical sources you rely for this strong and confident > statement? > > Costas > > At 09:20 01/06/2004 +0100, you wrote: > > > Money, it seems to me, arises spontaneously out of private and social > > > relations among commodity owners. It is a social nexus that necessarily > > takes > > > the form of absolute ability to buy. In a capitalist economy it also > > acts as > > > claim on wealth, since the division of labour is very detailed and > > producers > > > are independent and in competition. It also becomes capital and > > > interest-bearing capital. It further has a variety of non-economic > > roles. But > > > these roles depend on the essential character of money as monopolist of > > > buying ability and do not determine it. > > > > > > As for the state, which Jerry and others have brought up, I think that > we > > > should differentiate between the state inducing the emergence of money > and > > > the state becoming necessarily associated with money and buttressing it > > with > > > its own power. The former, I suggest, is analytically misleading (as > > well as > > > historically dubious) and not in line with Marx's letter and spirit. The > > > latter I would have no quarrel with. > > > > > > Costas > > > > > > >The problem with this account is that there is very little > >historical evidence to support it. It is a theoretical back > >projection of onto early society of Isaac Newtons monetary > >policy as master of the Mint. > > > >---------------------------------------------------------------- > >This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
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