RETHINK
ECONOMICS
RETHINK
ECONOMICS
... and receive personalised notifications on
new pluralistic content directly into your inbox!

The Money Problem – Rethinking Financial Regulation

The Money Problem
Morgan Ricks
University of Chicago Press, 2016
Level: advanced
Perspective: -
Topic: Money & Debt
page count: 345 pages
ISBN: 9780226330327

Blurb

In "The Money Problem, "Morgan Ricks argues for a reform of the American monetary system. Taking up foundational questions of monetary policy, he asks: how would we construct a monetary system if we were starting from scratch? What are the characteristics of a monetary instrument? What do we mean by, and want from, financial stability? Is there a respectable basis for the special legal status of deposits ? How should we think about the relationship between private money creation and the issuance of money by the state s central bank, and how should the government control the supply of monetary instruments? In answer to these questions, Ricks erects a theoretically elegant institutional design, a new structure of money and banking that emphasizes two core features: First, private money (cash-equivalent instruments) would be taken much more seriously and treated as cash deposits by commercial and central banks alike. Monetary instruments must be identified and defined by their function; and should be issued only by a designated class of commercial entities, licensed by the state for this specific purpose. Second, such monetary instruments would then be nondefaultable, formally backed by the sovereign public treasury, as sturdy as a dollar bill. By introducing formal state sponsorship to what was previously private credit, Ricks design mitigates the risk of catastrophic financial panic."

Donate

This project is brought to you by the Network for Pluralist Economics (Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik e.V.).  It is committed to diversity and independence and is dependent on donations from people like you. Regular or one-off donations would be greatly appreciated.

 

Donate