Money And The Nation State

Finally, the authors outline the reforms necessary to create monetary, financial and banking systems free of the episodic inflation, devaluation, debt crises, and exchange rate volatility that have plagued the twentieth century.

Monetary and banking problems in the world today arise not so much from the failure of specific policies as from more deep-seated problems in institutional structures. Individuals clearly make mistakes and legislatures make bad laws, but the institutions from which decisions and laws emanate determine the effectiveness of social operations and the value of social decisions. Unless we change the present institutional structure, we are not likely to get stable solutions to today's most serious problems—ongoing and often erratic inflation and serious banking instability. Money and the Nation State examines the history of modern monetary and banking arrangements, some of the major monetary and banking problems, and options for meaningful reform. The common theme of all the essays is that current arrangements result less from the accomplishments of great men than man-made institutions that society has inherited—central banks and "the legal and regulatory frameworks that accompany them. The contributors emphasize the impact of political interference on the workings of monetary and financial institutions. Not surprisingly, they find many problems arise because politically generated structures are inappropriate to the real needs of the individuals and groups they are meant to serve. Money and the Nation State provides an essential framework for those willing to return to first principles in thinking about the role of monetary institutions in economic life. Economists, financial theorists, and the interested citizen will find it stimulating reading.

National currencies appear to be threatened from all sides. European Union member countries are due to abandon their national currencies in favour of a supranational currency by the year 2000. Elsewhere, the use of foreign currencies within national economic spaces is on the increase, as shown by the growth of eurocurrency activity, and currency substitution in many parts of the world. In the last decade, privately-issued sub-national local currencies have also proliferated in a number of countries, and predict the emergence of private electronic monies of the future. In the light of these transformations, this book asks what the future holds for national currencies. The first half of the volume addresses issues relating to money leading up to, and during, the formation of national currencies. Ranging widely in their historical and geographical context, the papers problematise the relationship between money and nation-states by examining alternative forms and uses of currencies during this period. The second half look at contemporary challenges faced by national currencies.

The politics of international debt have received increasing attention in recent years. However, discussion of the politics of money has focused on Latin American and 'third' world countries. So far there has been little treatment of the politics of scarce money and of money as a political category in relation to 'advanced' countries. The central theme of the book is the limitations and constraints on state action which arise from the relation between the (nation) state and the global flow of money.

The traditional assumption holds that the territory of money coincides precisely with the political frontiers of each nation state: France has the franc, the United Kingdom has the pound, the United States has the dollar. But the disparity between that simple mental landscape and the actual organization of currency spaces has grown in recent years, as territorial boundaries of individual states limit currency circulation less and less. Many currencies are used outside their "home" country for transactions either between nations or within foreign states. In this book, Benjamin J. Cohen asks what this new geography of money reveals about financial and political power. Cohen shows how recent changes in the geography of money challenge state sovereignty. He examines the role of money and the scope of cross-border currency competition in today's world. Drawing on new work in geography and network theory to explain the new spatial organization of monetary relations, Cohen suggests that international relations, political as well as economic, are being dramatically reshaped by the increasing interpenetration of national monetary spaces. This process, he explains, generates tensions and insecurities as well as opportunities for cooperation.

Essential to Mises's concept of a classical liberal economy is the absence of interference by the state. In World War I, Germany and its allies were overpowered by the Allied Powers in population, economic production, and military might, and its defeat was inevitable. Mises believed that Germany should not seek revenge for the peace of Versailles; rather it should adopt liberal ideas and a free-market economy by expanding the international division of labor, which would help all parties. "For us and for humanity," Mises wrote, "there is only one salvation: return to rationalistic liberalism." Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was the leading spokesman of the Austrian School of economics throughout most of the twentieth century. Bettina Bien Greaves is a former resident scholar and trustee of the Foundation for Economic Education and was a senior staff member at FEE from 1951 to 1999. Please note: This title is available as an ebook for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes.