IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/halshs-02343433.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Towards a neo-Polanyian approach to money: integrating the concept of debt

Author

Listed:
  • Hadrien Saiag

    (IIAC - Institut interdisciplinaire d'anthropologie du contemporain - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

The paper aims to reconsider Polanyi's approach to money. His best-known writing on money uses (1968) is deeply original and presents strong insights that dissociate money from the concept of the market. Polanyi also developed an interesting non-dichotomous understanding of money in his Great Transformation (2001 [1944]). However, taken together, these two contributions lead to some unresolved questions: his critique of the orthodox approach to money is ambivalent; his argument to separate payment from account is weak; and, most important, he ultimately makes an incomplete break with the classical real/monetary dichotomy. This paper proposes a distinction between money as a set of instruments and practices and money as a concept, through the integration of John Commons' concept of debt into Polanyi's framework. This reformulation allows us to resolve Polanyi's unresolved questions while preserving his major contributions, and leads to a more complex understanding of money.

Suggested Citation

  • Hadrien Saiag, 2014. "Towards a neo-Polanyian approach to money: integrating the concept of debt," Post-Print halshs-02343433, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02343433
    DOI: 10.1080/03085147.2014.898825
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02343433
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02343433/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/03085147.2014.898825?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bohannan, Paul, 1959. "The Impact of Money on an African Subsistence Economy," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 491-503, December.
    2. Jean Cartelier, 2007. "The hypostasis of money: an economic point of view," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(2), pages 217-233, March.
    3. Saiag, Hadrien, 2011. "Le Trueque argentin au prisme de la dette : une socioéconomie des pratiques monétaires et financières," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/8199 edited by Servet, Jean-Michel & Théret, Bruno.
    4. Ingham, Geoffrey, 2004. "The nature of money," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 5(2), pages 18-28.
    5. A. Mitchell Innes, 2004. "What is Money?," Chapters, in: L. Randall Wray (ed.), Credit and State Theories of Money, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Menger, Carl, 1892. "On the Origins of Money," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 2, pages 239-255.
    7. Bernard Courbis & Éric Froment & Jean-Michel Servet, 1990. "A propos du concept de monnaie," Cahiers d'Économie Politique, Programme National Persée, vol. 18(1), pages 5-29.
    8. Jean-Michel Servet, 1993. "L'institution monétaire de la société selon Karl Polanyi," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 44(6), pages 1127-1150.
    9. Kuroda, Akinobu, 2007. "The Maria Theresa dollar in the early twentieth-century Red Sea region: a complementary interface between multiple markets," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(01), pages 89-110, April.
    10. Fantacci, Luca, 2005. "Complementary currencies: a prospect on money from a retrospect on premodern practices," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(01), pages 43-61, April.
    11. Jérôme Maucourant, 2005. "Le troc et la monnaie dans la pensée de Polanyi," Post-Print halshs-00138358, HAL.
    12. Hart, Keith, 2011. "The financial crisis and the end of all-purpose money," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 12(2), pages 4-10.
    13. L. Randall Wray (ed.), 2004. "Credit and State Theories of Money," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3204.
    14. Kuroda, Akinobu, 2008. "What is the complementarity among monies? An introductory note," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 7-15, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jérôme Blanc, 2017. "Unpacking monetary complementarity and competition: a conceptual framework," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 41(1), pages 239-257.
    2. Jérôme Blanc, 2018. "Tensions in the triangle: monetary plurality between institutional integration, competition and complementarity," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 389-411, December.
    3. Eric Tymoigne, 2014. "Monetary Mechanics: A Financial View," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_799, Levy Economics Institute.
    4. L. Randall Wray, 2014. "Outside Money: The Advantages of Owning the Magic Porridge Pot," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_821, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. Cockshott, Paul & Zachariah, David, 2014. "Conservation laws, financial entropy and the Eurozone crisis," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 8, pages 1-55.
    6. Leon Wansleben, 2021. "Divisions of regulatory labor, institutional closure, and structural secrecy in new regulatory states: The case of neglected liquidity risks in market‐based banking," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 909-932, July.
    7. Nikolay Nenovsky, 2009. "On Money as an Institution," ICER Working Papers 12-2009, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    8. L. Randall Wray, 2012. "A Meme for Money," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_736, Levy Economics Institute.
    9. Eric Tymoigne, 2017. "On the Centrality of Redemption: Linking the State and Credit Theories of Money through a Financial Approach to Money," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_890, Levy Economics Institute.
    10. Nikolay Nenovsky & Pencho Penchev, 2016. "Money without a State: Currencies of the Orthodox Christians in the Balkan Provinces of the Ottoman Empire (17th –19th centuries)," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 33-51, March.
    11. Larue, Louis, 2020. "The Ecology of Money: A Critical Assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    12. Georgina M. Gómez, 2019. "Money as an Institution: Rule versus Evolved Practice? Analysis of Multiple Currencies in Argentina," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-14, May.
    13. Ament, Joe, 2020. "An ecological monetary theory," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    14. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4931 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Joe Ament, 2019. "Toward an Ecological Monetary Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
    16. Reynold F. Nesiba, 2013. "Do Institutionalists and post-Keynesians share a common approach to Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)?," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 10(1), pages 44-60.
    17. Pavlina R. Tcherneva, 2016. "Money, Power, and Monetary Regimes," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_861, Levy Economics Institute.
    18. Lakomski-Laguerre, Odile & Desmedt, Ludovic, 2015. "L’alternative monétaire Bitcoin : une perspective institutionnaliste," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 18.
    19. Pezhwak Kokabian, 2020. "Black Currency of Middle Ages and Case for Complementary Currency," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-9, June.
    20. Di Muzio, Tim & Noble, Leoni, 2017. "The Coming Revolution in Political Economy: Money Creation, Mankiw and Misguided Macroeconomics," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 80, pages 85-108.
    21. Thomas I. Palley, 2008. "Endogenous Money: Implications for the Money Supply Process, Interest Rates, and Macroeconomics," Working Papers wp178, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02343433. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.