The Enigma of Money

The Enigma of Money: Gold, Central Banknotes, and Bitcoin Gives fundamental and basic views on the evolution of money, particularly on its emergence, divergence, and self-fulfilling retention,  & provides many historical examples for understanding what an economic bubble is and how it is formed and collapses.

Introduction:

So what is important if we wish to understand this living thing called economy? It seems to me that it is money – the money we live with every day, like air or water. Understanding money should be the best way to make sense of the history of economy as a system.

Why do we use money? What is price? What does an interest rate indicate? What role does money play in markets? Why does money circulate among people when it has no value in itself and why do people want money so much? Once we start thinking about money, various questions pop into our minds.

What is money, to begin with? This is the most fundamental question. But we find it a rather tough one to answer. Some may say “money is anything used as money” or “money is money because it is used as money,” which sounds to me like a Zen dialogue. Here they use the word “money” to defi ne money, leading them into a circular logic.

Usually, when we defi ne a word, we must not use the same word to define it, in order to avoid being circular. In the case of money, however, it is extremely difficult to define it by something other than itself. This is because, as we will see, money is itself based on a circular logic.

Contents:

• The Enigma of Money: If We Understand Money, We Will Understand Economy
• Is Money a “Thing” or an “Event”? Reconsidering Money and Market
• Money as “The Self-Fulfi llment of an Idea”: The Difference Between a Bank of Japan Note and Bitcoin
• The Disease Haunting Money: The Relation Between Money and Bubbles
• Why Is Capitalist Economy Unstable? On Hyperinflation and Speculation
• The Crisis of Capitalism and the “Quality” of Money

The Enigma of Money: Gold, Central Banknotes, & Bitcoin By Makoto Nishibe PDF