Money Money Money

Understanding money for what it really is — credit

“Money is a social phenomenon, like language, so the whole notion that the sovereign or the central bank controls the standard is in fact a myth. It doesn’t control the monetary standard any more than the editors of the Oxford English dictionary controls the meaning of words. Also like language, it is intrinsically social, one certainly can’t just invent it on one’s own. A famous economist once said that anyone can issue their own money, the only problem is getting it accepted.”

作者用人類學者的手法分析錢和各時代演變出的種種貨幣政策,直搗錢的本質– 信用。從一開始跟朋友在聊天,為了說服朋友現在貨幣政策的脆弱,開始說許多歷史故事,那些沒有“錢”的社會如何運作,有“錢”這個工具的又有多少不同的態度和應運而生的管理方式。唯一比較不足的是全書以西方觀點為主,東方的只有講道春秋時代齊桓公“管子”裡面敘述對商的想法。

既然錢是社會中認定價值和信用的工具,隨著社會變遷,然後區塊鏈與加密技術更有效率時,廿一世紀的錢必然會跟過去千年截然不同。

中文版“貨幣野史” (只有簡體版)
http://www.books.com.tw/products/CN11203834

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