MONEY IN HISTORY FROM KULA RING TO CRYPTOCURRENCY

Course Objectives:

The students are expected to:

• Present a quasi-chronological history of money, exchange, and the evolution of the modern financial systems since the early exchange systems to the present
• Describe different monetary systems and identify their differences
• Explore the transition from centralized to decentralized monetary systems and the emergence of cryptocurrencies

Course Content:

This course is an introduction to money and financial markets. From a historical and social perspective, it reviews not only economic, but also anthropological and other social research on money and financeç

The course consists of three parts. The first part is dedicated to the exploration of the social meanings of money within the realm of economic exchange and beyond. Within a modern economy, money functions as a medium of exchange, means of payment, unit of account and store of value. In the first part of the course, we will discuss how money came to fulfill these different functions today by exploring the different modalities of exchange, with and without money, across time and space.

The second part is on the evolution of monetary systems in the world economy. We will cover the history of financial and monetary systems since the early modern period. Specifically, we will discuss bimetallism and the use of silver until the 19th century, the gold standard and how it allowed the first globalization, the interwar financial crisis, and finally the reconstruction of the monetary system under the Bretton Woods system up to the recent financial crises. In light of the modern theories of money and finance, we will discuss the global financial crisis of 2008, assess current monetary policy and central banking practices as a response to and an outcome of the crisis. The main purpose is to provide a bird’s eye view of how the monetary system evolved during the long history of capitalism and globalization.