The Value of Money Author : Prabhat Patnaik

Publisher: Tulika Books

ISBN: 978-81-89487-42-3

About the Book

The author argues that in order to understand the viability of the capitalist system and the stability of money over long stretches of time, capitalism needs to be seen as necessarily ensconced within a pre-capitalist setting, a view originally advanced by Rosa Luxembourg.

The present book, while arguing this thesis, takes a close look at the Walrasian-Monetarist, Ricardian, Marxist and Keynesian system, highlighting in particular the monetary theory embedded in each.

The book also looks at the International Monetary System, in particular, the post-Bretton Woods arrangement. It argues that this arrangement does not entail a break with commodity money at the global level despite not being linked to gold. It characterises this arrangement as the ‘oil-dollar standard’ and explores some of the political implications of such a characterisation. Theory, especially monetary theory forms the main focus of this book.

About the Author

Prabhat Patnaik is Professor of Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and is currently Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Board, Government of Kerala. He is the author Of Time, Inflation and Growth (1998), Economics and Egalitarianism (1991), Whatever Happened to Imperialism and other essays (1995), Accumulation and Stability under Capitalism (1997), and has edited Lenin and Imperialism: An Appraisal of Theories and Contemporary Reality (1986) and Macroeconomics (1995).

Contents

Preface

Introduction: The Argument and Its Setting

Chapter 1: The Great Divide in Economics

PART I: THE INFIRMITY OF MONETARISM

Chapter 2
The Monetarist Theory

Chapter 3
Equilibrium and Historical Time: Inherited Payment Commitments

Chapter 4
The Modus Operandi of Monetarist Theory

Chapter 5
The Cash-Transactions Approach to Monetarism

Chapter 6
An Excursus on Rational Expectation Equilibria

Chapter 7
An Excursus on Methodological Individualism

Chapter 8
An Excursus on Walrasian Equilibrium and Capitalist Production

PART II: THE SUPERIORITY OF PROPERTYISM

Chapter 9
A Critique of Ricardo’s Theory of Money

Chapter 10
Marx on the Value of Money

Chapter 11
An Excursus on Marx’s Theory of Value

Chapter 12
Marx’s Solution to a Dilemma

Chapter 13
Alternative Interpretations of Keynes

Chapter 14
A Digression on a Keynesian Dilemma

Chapter 15
Marx, Keynes and Propertyism

PART III: THE INCOMPLETENESS OF PROPERTYISM

Chapter 16
The Incompleteness of Propertyism

Chapter 17
A Solution to the Incompleteness

Chapter 18
Capitalism as a Mode of Production

Chapter 19
Money in the World Economy

Chapter 20
Capitalism and Imperialism

Appendix: Factors Underlying Secular Movements in the Terms of Trade

Bibliography

Index